The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 16, 1993
Filed:
Apr. 05, 1991
Owen M Densmore, Palo Alto, CA (US);
David S Rosenthal, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for implementing a class hierarchy of objects in a hierarchical file system is disclosed, which does not require the support of additional file attributes by the hierarchical file system, and has particular application to object oriented programming in window-based computer systems. The class hierarchy comprises a root class, a plurality of classes and a plurality of class instances. The root class is implemented with a hierarchy of root class directory and root class files. Each class is implemented with a hierarchy of class directories and class files comprising the class methods, and the initial values of the class instance variables. Each class instance is implemented with a hierarchy of class instance directory and class instance files comprising the class instance variables. Each hierarchy of directories and files also comprises a path file. The content of these path files are logically related to each other, based on their class' relationships. By controlling the invocation of class methods, using these path files, inheritance is achieved. By accessing the class instance variables through the class methods, data abstraction is also achieved. Additionally, the method and apparatus also supports the pseudo class instance/class 'Self' and ' Super' when invoking another class method by a class method.