Meta class - Definition and Overview

A metaclass is a class that manages all relationships to class instances (objects). It provides informations about itself.

The following programming tools support metaclasses.

1. Classdesc
2. CLOS
3. CORBA
4. GCC XML Node Introspector
5. IDLscript
6. Logtalk
7. MELDC
8. Model-driven architecture (MDA)
9. Model-K
10. CorbaScript
11. Oberon
12. Object-Z
13. ObjVLisp
14. OpenAda
15. OpenC++
16. OpenJava
17. Python
18. Resource Description Framework (RDF)
19. Smalltalk
20. Strongtalk
21. Topic map
22. Unified Modeling Language
23. Assembly browser
24. Class browser
25. XOTcl

See also

• Static code analysis
• Parsing
• Compilation
• Translation
• Code generation
• Precompiler
• Preprocessor
• Persistence
• Object database
• Object serialization
• Interface repository
• Source formatter
• Code beautifier
• Mobile code
• Obfuscator
• Profiler
• Test coverage
• Metamodel
• Metaprogramming
• Reflective programming
• Metaobject protocol (MOP)
• Meta-information protocol
• Transparency
• Introspection
• Introcession
• Reflection
• Dynamism
• Adapter pattern
• Aspect composition
• Aspect-oriented programming
• Abstract interpretation
• Interceptor
• Filter

External links

• Citations from CiteSeer (http://citeseer.org/cs?q=metaclass)
• Description from the Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing (http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?query=metaclass)

Example Usage of class