Defining New Subtypes

The user of Lpp can create new Lpp subtypes with the classL and classLS macros. Note that all examples given in this section assume that a type meta-object is generated somewhere (see genT and genTS macros below). When a class is defined as an Lpp subtype a new type meta-object named by that class name will exist in the Lpp type hierarchy. Instances of that class then can be used anywhere an Lpp object of type let can be used. For example, such an instance can then occur in an Lpp list.

classL name

Macro

classLS name

Macro

The classL macro is used for defining new Lpp subtypes of type let. The classLS macro is used for defining new Lpp subtypes of Lpp supertypes. The name argument specifies the name of the new class and subtype. The syntax of both is exactly the same as the ordinary C++ class syntax except that instead of using the class identifier either classL or classLS is used.

For example

     classL(MyType) {...};
     let m1 = makeInstance(MyType);
     let list1 = list(L(1), m1, L(2));
     cout << second(list1);
     

We could do a similar thing with a subtype of MyType:

     classLS(MySubType) : private MyType {...};
     let ms1 = makeInstance(MySubType);
     let list1 = list(L(1), ms1, L(2));
     cout << second(list1);
     
     // Should print "t" for both of these:
     cout << typep(second(list1), type(MyType));
     cout << typep(second(list1), type(MySubType));
     

To pass the specific type of any new Lpp object down through the Lpp type lattice any constructor in a classL or classLS definition must pass in a constructor for the super type with the subtype as an argument. For classL this would be the Let supertype and for classLS the user defined Lpp type. Recall that the Lpp type can be referenced using the type macro. So for a new user defined Lpp type T the super constructor needed for classL would be Let(type(T)). Or using our example above for MyType and MySubType the class constructors might appear as follows

     MyType() : Let(type(MyType)) {...}
     MySubType() : MyType(type(MySubType)) {...}
     

makeInstance type

Macro

Returns a new Lpp object of type type. The argument type can be a C++ constructor form or just the type name. The constructor or type name must be of an Lpp type.

Since all Lpp object subtypes must have a type meta-object, See Accessing Type Meta-Objects, the Type object must be generated somewhere, usually in the C++ file that defines the accessors for the subtype. This can be done easily with the genT or genTS macros.

genT type

Macro

genTS type supertype

Macro

The genT macro generates a type meta-object of type type. The genTS macro generates a type meta-object of type type whose supertype is supertype. For example

     classL(MyType) {...};
     
     // The type meta-object for a MyType is generated here
     genT(MyType);
     
     classLS(MySubType) : private MyType {...};
     
     // The type meta-object for a MySubType is generated here
     genTS(MySubType, MyType);