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===Dynamic dispatch===
A method mymay be invoked via [[dynamic dispatch]] such that the method is selected at runtime instead of compile time. If the method choice depends on more than one type of object (such as other objects passed as parameters), it's called [[multiple dispatch]].
Dynamic dispatch works together with inheritance: if an object doesn't have the requested method, it looks up to its parent class ([[Delegation (object-oriented programming)|delegation]]), and continues up the chain to find a matching method.
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==Formal semantics==
Researchers have tried to formally define the [[Semantics (computer science)|semantics]] of OOP. [[Inheritance (object-oriented programming)|inheritanceInheritance]] presents difficulties, particularly with the interactions between open recursion and encapsulated state. Researchers have used [[recursive type]]s and [[F-Coalgebra|co-algebraic data types]] to incorporate essential features of OOP.<ref name=poll97>{{cite web|last1=Poll|first1=Erik|title=Subtyping and Inheritance for Categorical Datatypes|url=https://www.cs.ru.nl/E.Poll/papers/kyoto97.pdf|access-date=5 June 2011}}</ref> Abadi and Cardelli defined several extensions of [[System F-sub|System F<sub><:</sub>]] that deal with mutable objects, allowing both [[subtype polymorphism]] and [[parametric polymorphism]] (generics), and were able to formally model many OOP concepts and constructs.<ref name="AbadiCardelli">{{Cite book |first1=Martin |last1=Abadi |title=A Theory of Objects |url=http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=547964&dl=ACM&coll=portal |year=1996 |access-date=21 April 2010 |isbn=978-0-387-94775-4 |publisher=Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. |author-link=Martin Abadi|author2=Cardelli, Luca}}</ref> Although far from trivial, static analysis of object-oriented programming languages such as Java is a mature field,<ref>{{cite conference |last1=Tan |first1=Tian |last2=Li |first2=Yue |date=12 July 2023 |title=Tai-e: A Developer-Friendly Static Analysis Framework for Java by Harnessing the Good Designs of Classics|conference=ISSTA 2023 |pages=1093–1105 |doi=10.1145/3597926.3598120}}</ref> with several commercial tools.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bhutani |first1=Vikram |last2=Toosi |first2=Farshad Ghassemi |last3=Buckley |first3=Jim |date=1 June 2024 |title=Analysing the Analysers: An Investigation of Source Code Analysis Tools |journal=Applied Computer Systems |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=98–111 |doi=10.2478/acss-2024-0013}}</ref>
