method

programming The name given in Smalltalk and other

object-oriented languages to a procedure or routine

associated with one or more classes. An object of a

certain class knows how to perform actions, e.g. printing

itself or creating a new instance of itself, rather than the

function (e.g. printing) knowing how to handle different types

of object.

Different classes may define methods with the same name

(i.e. methods may be polymorphic). The term "method" is used

both for a named operation, e.g. "PRINT" and also for the code

which a specific class provides to perform tha

t operation.

Most methods operate on objects that are instances of a

certain class. Some object-oriented languages call these

"object methods" to distinguish then from "class methods".

In Smalltalk, a method is defined by giving its name,

documentation, temporary local variables and a sequence of

expressions separated by "."s.

(2000-03-22)