Generic function: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:37, 17 April 2006

Revision as of 16:04, 15 June 2007

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Generic functions correspond roughly to what [[Smalltalk]] calls messages; but when a generic function is called, method dispatch occurs on the basis of all arguments, not just a single privileged one. See under [[multiple dispatch]] for more. This is also known as a [[multimethod]].

An otherAnother, completely separate definition of '''generic function''' is a function that uses parametric polymorphism. This is the definition used when working with a language like [[OCaml]]. An example of a generic function is

id: a->a

let id a = a