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General Information
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New Features of Eli Version 4.9
Name Analysis for Object-Oriented Languages
A set of new modules has been added to support name analysis for
object-oriented languages.
Classical strategies for matching identifier uses with declarations cannot
handle the complexities of modern languages:
arbitrarily-qualified superclass names,
cyclic dependence among lookup operations,
and contextual access constraints.
Eli's Because inheritance relations are inherently non-structural, they are defined by names in a program and therefore their representations in the data structure must be created by name analysis. Language design decisions determine the dependence of this analysis on information already available, and therefore affect the techniques that must be used to complete the data structure (see Kernel Language of Tutorial for Name Analysis Using Scope Graphs). Our techniques for lookup depend only on the structural characteristics of the program that are embodied in the data structure. Many language definitions, however, include semantic constraints on identifier meanings. The module implements these kinds of constraints by providing extension points where language-independent lookup operations defined in the module invoke procedures coded by the designer to enforce language-specific semantic rules. Each language-specific procedure is provided with access to arbitrary properties of both the context of the identifier being sought and the contexts of one or more candidate definitions. It uses that information to determine which, if any, of the candidates should be accepted.
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