CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2007/ch1 1c JF

Introduction

Reflection allows programs to act in a more "intelligent" way by providing programs the ability to answer questions about what they do and modify behavior based on those answers. Languages can be reflective by either including this information in each object, or by including a package that grants access to this information.

Introspection

Reflective langauges can answer questions about themselves and their methods.

References

[1] Reflection-Oriented Programming

[2] Procedural Reflection in Programming Languages

[3] Evolving a Reflective Language Lessons Learned from Implementing Traits