TOM (object-oriented programming language)
Encyclopedia
TOM was an object-oriented programming language
developed in the 1990s that built on the lessons learned from Objective-C
. The main purpose of TOM was to allow for "unplanned reuse" of code via a well-developed extension mechanism. This concept was introduced seemingly by accident in Objective-C and later proved to be of wide use, and was applied aggressively in TOM.
The primary changes in TOM are the addition of multiple inheritance
, tuples as a first-class part of the language, cleaner syntax, free of the C
requirements for header files and pre-compiler commands, and the ability to use categories (the re-use mechanism) to include anything.
It is this latter ability that represents "the whole idea". Unlike Objective-C's categories that allowed only new methods to be built onto existing classes, TOM allowed the addition of class and instance variables, new methods, even new superclasses. This results in the redefinition of "class" as "a class is defined by its main definition and any extensions", these extensions have become a first-class citizen of the language (similarly to Ruby
).
Development of the TOM language has ceased.
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
developed in the 1990s that built on the lessons learned from Objective-C
Objective-C
Objective-C is a reflective, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language.Today, it is used primarily on Apple's Mac OS X and iOS: two environments derived from the OpenStep standard, though not compliant with it...
. The main purpose of TOM was to allow for "unplanned reuse" of code via a well-developed extension mechanism. This concept was introduced seemingly by accident in Objective-C and later proved to be of wide use, and was applied aggressively in TOM.
The primary changes in TOM are the addition of multiple inheritance
Multiple inheritance
Multiple inheritance is a feature of some object-oriented computer programming languages in which a class can inherit behaviors and features from more than one superclass....
, tuples as a first-class part of the language, cleaner syntax, free of the C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
requirements for header files and pre-compiler commands, and the ability to use categories (the re-use mechanism) to include anything.
It is this latter ability that represents "the whole idea". Unlike Objective-C's categories that allowed only new methods to be built onto existing classes, TOM allowed the addition of class and instance variables, new methods, even new superclasses. This results in the redefinition of "class" as "a class is defined by its main definition and any extensions", these extensions have become a first-class citizen of the language (similarly to Ruby
Ruby (programming language)
Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...
).
Development of the TOM language has ceased.