Microsoft Word OpenIssuesInOO. doc

5. Prototype-based 

languages 

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One of the most interesting developments in object-orientation is the languages based on 

prototypical objects [Bor86, Smi86, Lie86, US87]. These languages offer a new perspective 

on modeling and from a technical point of view are simpler yet in some aspects more 

general than class-based languages. In this section we shall comment on the modeling 

capabilities of prototype-based languages and compare them with class-based languages. 

We argue that there is a need for both perspectives on modeling. Finally we compare class-

based and prototype-based languages from a technical point of view.