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What is late binding of everything ? To me it's a bit like doing the opposite of what macros in Lisp do, but to do it during run-time rather than compile-time.

What is late binding of everything ? To me it's a bit like doing the opposite of what macros in Lisp do, but to do it during run-time rather than compile-time. Take Ruby for instance (which is interpreted in its standard implementation). You can define methods at runtime and 'keywords' that allow you to define new methods are methods as well. As a result you can extend the more "static" part of the language, adding new ways to declare methods and other "quasi-syntactic" sugars because this static part has been moved close to run-time and is executed like any other part of code. There are still a few things you can't do, like building a new way do declare classes or changing the superclass they point to. Edit: this interpretation is driven by the notion of PHP's Late Static Bindings[1]. [1] https://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.late-static-bindings.php https://php.net/manual/en/language.oop5.late-static-bindings...

armitron 7y ago
Rather than seeing "late binding of everything" as a specific implementation or bits and pieces of a particular implementation, I find it is much more clear to see it as a general self-referential idea. Why then would one _go against it and try to constrain it_ ? Taken in that light, as the article does a really good job of explaining, late binding of everything is a modeling process (or a process of thinking about things). It means that I should try and keep parts of the structure that I'm building up as flexible as they can be so that they match the model in my mind. One benefit of doing that is that I can later revisit and rework them. Another benefit that is seldom talked about, is that _the object I'm working on no longer constrains my thinking_. In other words, only specify in detail that which is crystal-clear in my mind model, and get away with fuzzier representations elsewhere. Tools and languages that fall inline with that process, not only empower one to work in this way but make it _ultra-efficient_ by triggering short feedback-loops and allowing the programmer to mesh with the modeled object.
discreteevent 7y ago
Late binding to me means late binding of the implementation, not the interface/protocol. So the discussion above about static vs dynamic languages is orthogonal. You can do it in either. In the example at the end of the article the protocol is that you give the shopper object a budget and a list of things to buy. But you could replace the implementation (late-bound) for one that does machine learning to optimise the result for cost or quality without changing the interface.

armitron 7y ago

Rather than seeing "late binding of everything" as a specific implementation or bits and pieces of a particular implementation, I find it is much more clear to see it as a general self-referential idea. Why then would one _go against it and try to constrain it_ ? Taken in that light, as the article does a really good job of explaining, late binding of everything is a modeling process (or a process of thinking about things). It means that I should try and keep parts of the structure that I'm building up as flexible as they can be so that they match the model in my mind. One benefit of doing that is that I can later revisit and rework them. Another benefit that is seldom talked about, is that _the object I'm working on no longer constrains my thinking_. In other words, only specify in detail that which is crystal-clear in my mind model, and get away with fuzzier representations elsewhere. Tools and languages that fall inline with that process, not only empower one to work in this way but make it _ultra-efficient_ by triggering short feedback-loops and allowing the programmer to mesh with the modeled object.

discreteevent 7y ago

Late binding to me means late binding of the implementation, not the interface/protocol. So the discussion above about static vs dynamic languages is orthogonal. You can do it in either. In the example at the end of the article the protocol is that you give the shopper object a budget and a list of things to buy. But you could replace the implementation (late-bound) for one that does machine learning to optimise the result for cost or quality without changing the interface.