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The Art Of The Metaobject Protocol

In a language based upon [our] metaobject protocols, the language implementation itself is structured as an object-oriented program. This allows us to exploit the power of object-oriented programming techniques to to make the language implementation adjustable and flexible. In effect, the resulting implementation does not represent a single point in the overall space of language designs, but an entire region within that space.[1]

• according to AlanKay the best book written on ComputerScience for years.
• http://www2.parc.com/csl/groups/sda/publications/papers/Kiczales-AMOP/
• http://www.lisp.org/mop/contents.html
  
• http://www.gungfu.de/books/89/
  
• Going META!
  • brief intro to MOP
    
  
  
• User-Level Language Crafting - Introducing the CLOS Metaobject Protocol - recommended introduction [2]
  
  
• CL's MOP vs Java's Reflection

• http://illuminations.ca/commissions.html - homepage of the artist who makes the book's cover.

• http://www.dreamsongs.com/Files/amop-review.pdf - review by DickGabriel via

Metaobject Protocol in Python

• looking for MOP documentation
• http://www.python.org/search/hypermail/python-1994q3/0340.html
  • Why have a MOP?
    • to change its implementation (by adding data items)
    • to change its behavior in a compatible way (by overriding methods)
    • to suppliment its behavior (by adding methods)
  • Basically any of your favorite features from other OOP language could be implemented for Python using the MOP, e.g. changing inheritance on the fly, public/protected/private clauses, persistant objects, objects that migrate transparently over the network. Chances are, whatever the OOP semantics a Python programmer wants, she could implement it for herself using the MOP.