https://blog.tchatzigiannakis.com/tags/multiple-dispatch/ Recent content in multiple-dispatch on Mature Pessimizations - A programming blog by Theodoros Chatzigiannakis Hugo -- gohugo.io en Wed, 15 Mar 2017 20:00:00 +0300 https://blog.tchatzigiannakis.com/implementing-multiple-dispatch-polymorphism/ Wed, 15 Mar 2017 20:00:00 +0300 https://blog.tchatzigiannakis.com/implementing-multiple-dispatch-polymorphism/ <p><a href="https://blog.tchatzigiannakis.com/implementing-single-dispatch-polymorphism/">As we saw previously</a>, many popular OOP languages support subtype polymorphism with single dispatch. This means that the dynamic resolution of a polymorphic call happens with respect to one argument only: the <code>this</code> reference.</p> <p>The problem with this limitation is that it&rsquo;s completely arbitrary. In a well-written program, there is no natural tendency for polymorphism to be useful only in one dimension. Quite the contrary – if a program is written with best OOP practices in mind (e.g. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_responsibility_principle">one responsibility per class</a>), chances are that the need for multidimensional polymorphism, also called <em>multiple dispatch</em>, will eventually arise.</p>