chaitanya

There's more than two classes. I have one base class, and a few
subclasses with specialized methods for them. I want to preserve the
original object so I can export its slots to instances of different subclasses. Chaitanya

rpw3

| > Sounds even fishier. What would the names of the two classes be?
|
| There's more than two classes. I have one base class, and a few
| subclasses with specialized methods for them. I want to preserve the
| original object so I can export its slots to instances of different
| subclasses.
+---------------

Is there only one such "original object"? Are the values of its
slots essentially read-only? If so, have you looked into using
the (:ALLOCATION :CLASS) slot option when defining A? Then all
instances of A, *including* all instances of B, will share the
same slots. [Well, for those slots of A for which you specify
(:ALLOCATION :CLASS)...]

If not, then maybe what you really want is not CLOS but a
prototype-based object system such as provided by, say, KR
(available as a part of the Garnet distribution or now by
itself, see <http://www.cliki.net/KR>).
-Rob -----
Rob Warnock <rpw3@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue <URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403 (650)572-2607