WG211/M16Schultz

Adventures in Object-Oriented Reversible Programming by Ulrik Pagh Schultz

This talk presents a work-in-progress on the design and implementation of a reversible object-oriented language based on extending Janus with object-oriented concepts such as classes that encapsulate behavior and state, inheritance, virtual dispatching, as well as constructors. Virtual dispatching works well as a reversible decision mechanism and is easily translatable to a standard reversible programming model such as Janus, and reversible management of object state can be accomplished using reversible constructors. A prototype of the language has been implemented in terms of translation to standard Janus programs. Significant open issues however remain, notably regarding memory management and the management of complicated encapsulated state in a reversible Janus-style language.