Multimethods

["Mark C. Carroll" <carroll@udel.edu>]

I find the idea of multimethods extremely interesting, and I've found
multiple polymorphism to be extremely useful in languages like C++.
But before something like that gets added to Self, I think some
consideration should be given to what it does to the model of the
language.

Self currently has an extremely elegant model. It provides an
extraordinarily simple, uniform way of doing things. The basic
operation is the message pass, and if you understand the conceptual
mechanics of message passing, you understand Self. (Well, it's a bit
of an exageration, but, for the sake of argument, let it stand.)

What happens to that model when we add multimethods? 

I'm not taking a side on the issue yet. I really like the idea of
multimethods. If you can add them without sacrificing the elegance of
the model, then I'll be 100% in favor of them. But I don't want to see
them added if it ruins the conceptual beauty of the language.

	<MC>