Valhalla Legends Archive

I say no.

TheMinistered and I were having a debate about whether overloaded functions are a feature of polymorphic languages.  I say no -- you can have a language that supports function overloads but is not polymorphic.  VB6 *in theory* could support function overloads, just by having different parameters.  But it's not a polymorphic language because you can't have one type change the base type's behavior.

This is my best example of polymorphism:

In Beta 1, the ProfileEx class contains ALL of the information required for my bot.  It implements about 6 interfaces: IDisplaySettings, IConnectionSettings, ICommandSettings, etc.  I pass ProfileEx to functions that don't know of the existence of ProfileEx, but do know of the existence of their respective interfaces.  So, I say, .SetDisplaySettings(myProfile) where the SetDisplaySettings method takes an IDisplaySettings parameter.  In some instances, ProfileEx behaves solely as display settings.  Others, solely as command settings, or connection settings.  None of those are aware of the existence of a ProfileEx class.  That's what it means, for something to have many forms.

I fail to see how that has anything to do with overloaded functions.  

[edit] My bad Tuber, I got you and TheMinistered confused. [/edit]

When exactly did I debate this with you?

Addition: What are you talking about anyways? I do not program in VB whatsoever.

Final addition: Ok that makes much more sense. Everyone please ignore my comments.

Function overloading allows you to use the same function interface (name) for different implementations (definition).  Actually, I guess the parameter list is part of the interface too, but that's just a small example.  I'd actually see it more fit as function overiding as function polymorphism, not function overloading.  I'm not absolutely sure how it ever came to be known as function polymorphism though.

Overloading functions does not allow objects to "morph" into other ones, so no, I don't see it as a feature of polymorphism. It is simply a feature of a language.

I don't think overloading is polymorphism either.

I dont think polymorphism is overloading. No. I think morphing is cool though. I'd like to morph into a bird; a bird of prey.. and eat humans.

I think function overloads is an example of polymorphism.

Quote from: Adron on July 25, 2004, 12:12 PM
I think function overloads is an example of polymorphism.

I agree because the definition of polymorphism is many forms, and function overloading allows there to be many forms of one function. I believe the exact term is Ad-hoc polymorphism but I could be wrong.

Quote from: Tuberload on July 25, 2004, 02:35 PM

Quote from: Adron on July 25, 2004, 12:12 PM
I think function overloads is an example of polymorphism.

I agree because the definition of polymorphism is many forms, and function overloading allows there to be many forms of one function. I believe the exact term is Ad-hoc polymorphism but I could be wrong.

I believe you're correct.  And I do agree function overloading is a form of polymorphism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymorphism_%28computer_science%29