Re: Dylan class system?

[Ranson <ranson@LANNION.cnet.fr>]

I've read the book quickly, so here is some info, hopefully correct:

The object system is similar to that of CLOS, with multiple inheritance, gene-
ric functions and methods. Methods can also be standalone, and are then similar
to Lisp functions (strange concept).
As far as I know, there are no metaclasses, user defined method combinations
or even before/after methods. They are not described, but the book does not
pretend to be exhaustive.
There are no packages, but modules, from which you can export global variables
(includes functions, classes: symbols have only one value slot). You can import
from another module, with renaming if necessary. Modules are just outlined in
the book, which may mean that they are environment-specific.
No first class continuations or environments, I think. What are engines?
Most of DYLAN functionnalities are supposed to be defined in external libraries
(modules?) that can be linked in. Classes can be "sealed" to throw away meta-
information. I think there is no EVAL function too. All this promises very
small final applications if implemented smartly.
Oh, yes, the book is 6 times smaller than CLtL2 :-)
     Daniel.