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The java.lang.Class [2] class is the basis of more advanced introspection. For instance, if it is desirable to determine the actual class of an object (rather than whether it is a member of a particular class), Object.getClass() and Class.getName() can be used:
Name resolution in Java is further complicated at runtime, as fully qualified names for classes are unique only inside a specific classloader instance. Classloaders are ordered hierarchically and each Thread in the JVM has a so-called context class loader, so in cases where two different classloader instances contain classes with the same name ...
When a member function is called on an object, it invokes the member function with the same name on the object's class object, with the object automatically bound to the first argument of the function. Thus, the obligatory first parameter of instance methods serves as this; this parameter is conventionally named self, but can be named anything.
In some languages, such as Python, Ruby or Smalltalk, a class is also an object; thus each class is an instance of a unique metaclass that is built into the language. [ 4 ] [ 35 ] [ 36 ] The Common Lisp Object System (CLOS) provides metaobject protocols (MOPs) to implement those classes and metaclasses.
/*Ruby has three member variable types: class, class instance, and instance. */ class Dog # The class variable is defined within the class body with two at-signs # and describes data about all Dogs *and* their derived Dog breeds (if any) @@sniffs = true end mutt = Dog. new mutt. class. sniffs #=> true class Poodle < Dog # The "class instance variable" is defined within the class body with a ...
In Python, if a name is intended to be "private", it is prefixed by one or two underscores. Private variables are enforced in Python only by convention. Names can also be suffixed with an underscore to prevent conflict with Python keywords. Prefixing with double underscores changes behaviour in classes with regard to name mangling.
In a more theoretical context a function object may be considered to be any instance of the class of functions, especially in languages such as Common Lisp in which functions are first-class objects. The ML family of functional programming languages uses the term functor to represent a mapping from modules to modules, or from types to types and ...
Together this implies that a class in Smalltalk is an object and that, therefore a class needs to be an instance of a class (called metaclass). As an example, a car object c is an instance of the class Car. In turn, the class Car is again an object and as such an instance of the metaclass of Car called Car class. Note the blank in the name of ...