Objects

The class of all Dylan objects.

Superclasses:

None. <object> is the root of the Dylan class hierarchy.

Init-keywords:

None.

Description:

The class <object> is the root of the type system. All objects are general instances of <object>, all types are subtypes of <object>, and all classes are subclasses of <object>.

Operations:

The class <object> provides the following operations:

**Table 11-1** Functions on <object>
Function	Description	Page
`identity`	Returns its argument.	287
`always`	Returns a function that always returns a particular object.	350
`instance?`	Tests whether an object is an instance of a type.	343
`object-class`	Returns the class of an object.	344
`==`	Compares two objects for identity.	268
`~==`	Compares two objects for nonidentity.	269
`~`	Returns true if its argument is false; otherwise returns false.	268
`object-hash`	The hash function for the equivalence predicate ==.	342

**Table 11-2** Generic functions on <object>
Function	Description	Page
`initialize`	Performs instance initialization that cannot be specified declaratively by a class definition.	260
`as`	Coerces an object to a type.	288
`shallow-copy`	Returns a copy of its argument.	292
`type-for-copy`	Returns an appropriate type for creating mutable copies of its argument.	292
`size`	Returns the size of its argument.	295
`empty?`	Returns true if its argument is empty.	294

**Table 11-3** Methods on <object>
Function	Description	Page
`initialize`	Performs instance initialization that cannot be specified declaratively by a class definition.	260
`type-for-copy`	Returns an appropriate type for creating mutable copies of its argument.	292
`=`	Compares two objects for equality.	269