Eiffel

2 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Eiffel
       n : French engineer who constructed the Eiffel Tower (1832-1923)
           [syn: {Alexandre Gustave Eiffel}]

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:



  Eiffel
       
           An {object-oriented} language produced by {Bertrand
          Meyer} in 1985.  Eiffel has {classes} with {multiple
          inheritance} and {repeated inheritance}, {deferred class}es
          (like {Smalltalk}'s {abstract class}), and {cluster}s of
          classes.  Objects can have both {static type}s and {dynamic
          type}s.  The dynamic type must be a descendant of the static
          (declared) type.  {Dynamic binding} resolves {multiple
          inheritance} clashes.  It has flattened forms of classes, in
          which all of the inherited features are added at the same
          level and {generic class}es parametrised by type.
       
          Other features are {persistent object}s, {garbage collection},
          {exception} handling, {foreign language interface}.  Classes
          may be equipped with {assertions} (routine preconditions and
          postconditions, class {invariant}s) implementing the theory of
          "{Design by Contract}" and helping produce more reliable
          software.
       
          Eiffel is compiled to {C}.  It comes with libraries containing
          several hundred classes: data structures and {algorithm}s
          (EiffelBase), graphics and user interfaces (EiffelVision) and
          language analysis (EiffelLex, EiffelParse).
       
          The first release of Eiffel was release 1.4, introduced at the
          first {OOPSLA} in October 1986.  The language proper was first
          described in a University of California, Santa Barbara report
          dated September 1985.
       
          Eiffel is available, with different libraries, from several
          sources including {Interactive Software Engineering}, USA (ISE
          Eiffel version 3.3); Sig Computer GmbH, Germany (Eiffel/S);
          and {Tower, Inc.}, Austin (Tower Eiffel).
       
          The language definition is administered by an open
          organisation, the Nonprofit International Consortium for
          Eiffel (NICE).  There is a standard kernel library.
       
          An {Eiffel source checker} and compiler {front-end} is
          available.
       
          Latest version: 4.2, as of 1998-10-28.
       
          Latest version: ISE Eiffel version 3.3.
       
          See also {Sather}, {Distributed Eiffel}, {Lace}, {shelf}.
       
          E-mail: .
       
          ["Eiffel: The Language", Bertrand Meyer, P-H 1992].
       
          (1998-11-15)