Lambda the Ultimate

inactiveTopic Multiple inheritance thru automated delegation in Java
started 10/21/2001; 2:46:40 PM - last post 10/21/2001; 2:46:40 PM
Manuel Simoni - Multiple inheritance thru automated delegation in Java  blueArrow
10/21/2001; 2:46:40 PM (reads: 233, responses: 0)
http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/viega98automated.html

"Automating delegation, in combination with a multiple subtyping mechanism, provides many of the same benefits as multiple inheritance, yet sidesteps most of the associated problems.

...In this paper, we discuss why automated delegation is desirable. We also present Jamie, a freeware preprocessor-based extension to Java that offers such an alternative."

The authors add a new construct to the language:

public class A forwards SomeInterface to delegate implements SomeInterface {
   protected SomeInterface delegate;
}

A is now a subtype of SomeInterface, but calls to SomeInterface's methods are "routed" to the delegate (by generated wrapper scripts, I think). This means you can inherit functionality from multiple classes.