Generalizing Polymorphism With Multimethods
Object-oriented programming gains much of its versatility through polymorphism: objects of different kinds can behave in similar ways, given the right contexts. But most OOP programming is single dispatch; that is, just one designated object determines which code path is taken. Conceptually, a more general technique is to allow all the arguments to a function/method to determine its specialization. This article presents an implementation of multiple dispatch in Python, and shows examples where this makes for better programs.
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April 6, 2003 4:52 PM
Instead of mucking around with experimental Python extensions, consider that the first OO language that achieved an ANSI standard has multiple dispatch. That's right, Common Lisp!
