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The metaclass of Metaclass is called Metaclass class which again is an instance of class Metaclass. In Smalltalk-80, every class (except Object ) has a superclass . The abstract superclass of all metaclasses is Class , which describes the general nature of classes.
Before a class derived from an abstract class can be instantiated, all abstract methods of its parent classes must be implemented by some class in the derivation chain. [25] Most object-oriented programming languages allow the programmer to specify which classes are considered abstract and will not allow these to be instantiated. For example ...
In Python, everything is an object, even classes. Classes, as objects, have a class, which is known as their metaclass. Python also supports multiple inheritance and mixins. The language supports extensive introspection of types and classes. Types can be read and compared—types are instances of type. The attributes of an object can be ...
In knowledge representation, particularly in the Semantic Web, a metaclass is a class whose instances can themselves be classes. Similar to their role in programming languages, metaclasses in ontology languages can have properties otherwise applicable only to individuals, while retaining the same class's ability to be classified in a concept hierarchy.
In class-based object-oriented programming, abstract types are implemented as abstract classes (also known as abstract base classes), and concrete types as concrete classes. In generic programming , the analogous notion is a concept , which similarly specifies syntax and semantics, but does not require a subtype relationship: two unrelated ...
Each class is an instance of the metaclass of that class. Metaclasses in turn are also objects, and are all instances of a class named Metaclass. Classes contain method dictionaries that map selectors (the equivalent of function procedure names in other languages) to method objects, objects that are executed to evaluate messages.
In languages supporting multiple inheritance, such as C++, interfaces are implemented as abstract classes. In languages without explicit support, protocols are often still present as conventions. This is known as duck typing. For example, in Python, any class can implement an __iter__ method and be used as a collection. [3]
Composition over inheritance (or composite reuse principle) in object-oriented programming (OOP) is the principle that classes should favor polymorphic behavior and code reuse by their composition (by containing instances of other classes that implement the desired functionality) over inheritance from a base or parent class. [2]