18.14 Notes

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18.14 Notes

Object encodings are a staple source of examples and problems for the programming languages research community. An early encoding was given by Reynolds (1978); general interest in the area was sparked by an article by Cardelli (1984). The understanding of self in terms of fixed points was developed by Cook (1989), Cook and Palsberg (1989), Kamin (1988), and Reddy (1988); relations between these models were explored by Kamin and Reddy (1994) and Bruce (1991).

A number of important early papers in the area are collected in Gunter and Mitchell (1994). Later developments are surveyed by Bruce, Cardelli, and Pierce (1999) and by Abadi and Cardelli (1996). Bruce (2002) gives an up-to-date picture of progress in the area. Alternative foundational approaches to objects and their type systems can be found in Palsberg and Schwartzbach (1994) and Castagna (1997).

Some additional historical notes can be found at the end of Chapter 32.

Inheritance is highly overrated. -Grady Booch

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