Predefined Classes (SOS 1.9)

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### 1.2 Predefined Classes

SOS provides a rich set of predefined classes that can be used to specialize methods to any of Scheme’s built-in datatypes.

Class: <object> ¶

  This is the class of all Scheme objects. It has no direct superclasses, and all other classes are subclasses of this class.

Class: <instance> ¶

  This is the class of instances. It is a direct subclass of `<object>`. The members of this class are the objects that satisfy the predicate `instance?`.

Class: <boolean> ¶
Class: <char> ¶
Class: <entity> ¶
Class: <pair> ¶
Class: <procedure> ¶
Class: <record> ¶
Class: <string> ¶
Class: <symbol> ¶
Class: <vector> ¶

  These are the classes of their respective Scheme objects. They are all direct subclasses of `<object>`. The members of each class are the objects that satisfy the corresponding predicate; for example, the members of `<procedure>` are the objects that satisfy `procedure?`.

Class: <generic-procedure> ¶

  This is the class of generic procedure instances. It is a direct subclass of `<procedure>`.

Class: <method> ¶

  This is the class of method objects. It is a direct subclass of `<instance>`.

Class: <chained-method> ¶
Class: <computed-method> ¶
Class: <computed-emp> ¶

  These classes specify additional method objects with special properties. Each class is a subclass of `<method>`.

The following are the classes of Scheme numbers. Note that `object-class` will never return one of these classes; instead it returns an implementation-specific class that is associated with a particular numeric representation. The implementation-specific class is a subclass of one or more of these implementation-independent classes, so you should use these classes for specialization.

Class: <number> ¶
Class: <complex> ¶
Class: <real> ¶
Class: <rational> ¶
Class: <integer> ¶

  These are the classes of the Scheme numeric tower. `<number>` is a direct subclass of `<math-object>`, `<complex>` is a direct subclass of `<number>`, `<real>` is a direct subclass of `<complex>`, etc.

Class: <exact> ¶
Class: <exact-complex> ¶
Class: <exact-real> ¶
Class: <exact-rational> ¶
Class: <exact-integer> ¶

  These are the classes of exact numbers. `<exact>` is a direct subclass of `<number>`, `<exact-complex>` is a direct subclass of `<exact>` and `<complex>`, and in general, each is a direct subclass of preceding class and of the class without the `exact-` prefix.

Class: <inexact> ¶
Class: <inexact-complex> ¶
Class: <inexact-real> ¶
Class: <inexact-rational> ¶
Class: <inexact-integer> ¶

  These are the classes of inexact numbers. `<inexact>` is a direct subclass of `<number>`, `<inexact-complex>` is a direct subclass of `<inexact>` and `<complex>`, and in general, each is a direct subclass of preceding class and of the class without the `inexact-` prefix.

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