Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!okstate!norman
From: norman@a.cs.okstate.edu (Norman Graham)
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: Re: "Ad Hoc Polymorphism" -- I'm Quoting Someone Else
Message-ID: <5269@okstate.UUCP>
Date: 9 Jan 90 17:00:18 GMT
References: <646@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu>
Organization: Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater
Lines: 47

From article <646@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu>, by eberard@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (Edward Berard):
> Jim Adcock has admonished me as follows:
> 
> 	"Can you please choose some other descriptor rather than "ad
> 	hoc polymorphism" ???  [...]
> 
> I try not to invent terminology -- there is too much already. So, I
> try to use terms as I found them. [...]
> 
> If you recognize this type of polymorphism as having a different name,
> and can cite two, or more, earlier references, I will consider using
> a different name. (Heck! I'll even take _one_ earlier reference. ;-))

Please don't change your terminology. As early as 1967, Christopher
Strachey [1] made a distinction between ad-hoc polymorphism and 
parametric polymorphism. The standard vocabulary for polymorphism
is recorded in Cardelli and Wegner's execent article on types, abstraction,
and polymorphism [2]. The polymorphic hierarchy is as follows:

                                  +--- parametric
                +--- universal ---|
                |                 +--- inclusion
polymorphism ---|
                |                 +--- overloading
                +--- ad hoc ------|
                                  +--- coercion

[Another semi-related article is Danforth and Tomlinson's article [3]
on types and oop.]

Cheers,
Norm

[1] Christopher Strachey. Fundamental concepts in programming languages. 
    Lecture notes for International Summer School in Computer Programming,
    Copenhagen, August, 1967.
[2] Luca Cardelli and Peter Wegner. On understanding types, data
    abstraction, and polymorphism. "ACM Computing Surveys," Vol. 17,
    No. 4, December 1985, pp. 471-522.
[3] Scott Danforth and Chris Tomlinson. Type theories and object-oriented
    programming. "ACM Computing Surveys," Vol. 20, No. 1, March 1988,
    pp. 29-72.
-- 
Norman Graham                            Oklahoma State University
  Internet:  norman@a.cs.okstate.edu     Computing and Information Sciences
      UUCP:  {cbosgd, rutgers}           219 Mathematical Sciences Building
              !okstate!norman            Stillwater, OK  USA  74078-0599