Smalltalk and Python

[Neil Cerutti]

Alex Martelli posted:
>[good discussion about squares and rectangels snipped]
>
>But that's implementation, and a well known
>problem with inheriting-from-concrete in that
>realm.  What I'm saying is that the problems with
>inheritance-from-instantiable (fully concrete)
>classes start much earlier than at implementation
>time -- start with conceptual, ontological issues
>regarding OOA and related classification tasks.

This problem arises from the way that our minds work. We like to
classify things, and the classifications are incredibly
complicated. Object Orientation doesn't model our minds very well
due to the problems you discussed. We end up needing imaginary
classes containinag, as practically as we can deduce, the
commonalities in groups of objects we're modelling--for the sake
of inheritance. In reality an ostrich and a blue-jay and a
pengiun are all birds, but the relationships between them don't
*really* go back to a primordial ideal BIRD. They're family
relationships, which I don't know how to model.

Perhaps a new paradigm of "family oriented" programming will crop
up some day?

-- 
Neil Cerutti <cerutti at together.net>