gabriele renzi wrote:
> I read this and I thought that teh author was talking about
> image-based languages, I can't see how prototypes has relevance in his
> talk.
> Someone would mind explaining why prototypes are better than clases or
> viceversa ?

My opinion:

Prototype-based languages are not better than class-based langauages, 
and vice versa.  Rather, it is just another way of architecting 
software, a different way of viewing the world.  Ultimately, anything 
that can be done in one can be done in another.

There are aspects of prototype-based languages that appeal to me--it 
simplifies the whole class/object dichotomy (which even Ruby suffers 
from--why do you think so many people get confused when you start saying 
that a Class is an Object? Or when you start talking about singleton 
classes?).  However, prototypes suffer from their own problems, 
too--it's not a panacea.

I imagine most people here saw the announcement on Slashdot a few days 
ago for "Prothon" (a prototype-based language based on Python). I once 
felt that I was ambitiious enough to create a prototype-based version of 
Ruby, but didn't make very much progress on it. Eventually, I think it 
would be neat to have one, just to play with. Like I said, it simplifies 
the class/object issue, since there are no classes, only objects.

My $0.02.

-- 
Jamis Buck
jgb3 / email.byu.edu
http://www.jamisbuck.org/jamis

ruby -h | ruby -e 
'a=[];readlines.join.scan(/-(.)\[e|Kk(\S*)|le.l(..)e|#!(\S*)/) {|r| a << 
r.compact.first };puts "\n>#{a.join(%q/ /)}<\n\n"'