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Abstract : |
The efficiency of dynamic dispatch is a major impediment to the adoption of multi-methods in object-oriented languages. In this paper, we propose a simple multi-method dispatch scheme based on compressed dispatch tables. This scheme is applicable to any object-oriented language using a method precedence order that satisfies a specific monotonous property (e.g., as Cecil and Dylan), and guarantees that dynamic dispatch is performed in constant time, a major requirement for some languages and applications. We provide efficient algorithms to build the dispatch tables, provide their worst-case complexity, and demonstrate the effectiveness of our scheme by real measurements performed on two large object-oriented applications. Finally, we provide a detailed comparison of our technique with other existing techniques., |
