Laws of Object-Orientation with Reference Semantics

Abstract. Algebraic laws have been proposed to support program transformation in several paradigms. In general, and for object-orientation in particular, these laws tend to ignore possible aliasing resulting from reference semantics. This paper proposes a set of algebraic laws for objectoriented languages in the context of a reference semantics. Soundness of the laws is addressed, and a case study is also developed to show the application of the proposed laws for code refactoring.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: SEFM
• Authors: Leila Silva, Augusto Sampaio, Zhiming Liu
• Keywords: Algebraic Laws, Program Transformation, Reference Semantics, SEFM 2008, Software Engineering