Abstract

Mixins are modules in which some components are deferred , i.e. their definition has to be provided by another module. Moreover, differently from parameterized modules (like ML functors), mixin modules can be mutually dependent and their composition supports redefinition of components (overriding). In this paper, we present a formal model of mixins and their basic composition operators. These operators can be viewed as a kernel language with clean semantics in which to express more complex operators of existing modular languages, including variants of inheritance in object oriented programming. Our formal model is given in an "institution independent" way, i.e. is parameterized by the semantic framework modeling the underlying core language. Introduction In object oriented languages, the definition of an heir class H from a parent class P takes usually the form H = extend P by M , where M denotes a collection of definitions of components (typically methods) which are either new, or re...

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