Prototype based langue LUA

Prototype-based programming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototype-based_programming

Prototype-based programming is a style of object-oriented programming in which behaviour reuse (known as inheritance) is performed via a process of reusing existing objects via delegation that serve as prototypes. This model can also be known as prototypal, prototype-oriented,classless, or instance-based programming. Delegation is the language feature that supports prototype-based programming.

面向对象编程的另外一种实现风格（区别于class）， 使用对象来实现行为的复用。

The first prototype-oriented programming language was Self, developed by David Ungar and Randall Smith in the mid-1980s to research topics in object-oriented language design. Since the late 1990s, the classless paradigm has grown increasingly popular.^{[citation needed]} Some current prototype-oriented languages are JavaScript (and other ECMAScript implementations, JScript and Flash\'s ActionScript 1.0), Lua, Cecil, NewtonScript, Io, Ioke, MOO, REBOL, Lisaac and AHk.

Class-based programming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class-based_programming

Class-based programming, or more commonly class-orientation, is a style of object-oriented programming (OOP) in which inheritance is achieved by defining classes of objects, as opposed to the objects themselves (compare prototype-based programming).

通过类来实现面向对象编程。

The most popular and developed model of OOP is a class-based model, as opposed to an object-based model. In this model, objects are entities that combine state (i.e. data), behavior (i.e. procedures, or methods) and identity (unique existence among all other objects). The structure and behavior of an object are defined by a class, which is a definition, or blueprint, of all objects of a specific type. An object must be explicitly created based on a class and an object thus created is considered to be an instance of that class. An object is similar to a structure, with the addition of method pointers, member access control, and an implicit data member which locates instances of the class (i.e. actual objects of that class) in the class hierarchy (essential for runtime inheritance features).

LUA OOP 实现

http://www.lua.org/pil/16.1.html

A class works as a mold for the creation of objects. Several OO languages offer the concept of class. In such languages, each object is an instance of a specific class. Lua does not have the concept of class; each object defines its own behavior and has a shape of its own. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to emulate classes in Lua, following the lead from prototype-based languages, such as Self and NewtonScript. In those languages, objects have no classes. Instead, each object may have a prototype, which is a regular object where the first object looks up any operation that it does not know about. To represent a class in such languages, we simply create an object to be used exclusively as a prototype for other objects (its instances). Both classes and prototypes work as a place to put behavior to be shared by several objects.

example

    function Account:new (o)
      o = o or {}   -- create object if user does not provide one
      setmetatable(o, self)
      self.__index = self
      return o
    end