Editing Cecil (programming language) (section)

{{Short description|Object-oriented programming language}}
{{Distinguish|CESIL}}
{{Infobox programming language
| name =       <!-- otherwise defaults to {{PAGENAME}} -->
| logo =       <!-- (filename) -->
| logo caption = 
| screenshot = <!-- (filename) -->
| screenshot caption = 
| paradigm = [[Object-oriented Programming|object-oriented]]
| family =  
| designer =   [[Craig Chambers]]
| developer =  <!-- or: | developers = -->
| released =   {{Start date and age|1992|df=yes}}
| latest release version = 
| latest release date = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| latest preview version = 
| latest preview date = <!-- {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| typing = dynamic (optionally static)
| scope = 
| programming language = 
| discontinued =
| platform = 
| operating system = 
| license = 
| file ext = 
| file format = <!-- or: | file formats = -->
| website =     <!-- {{url|www.example.com}} -->
| implementations = 
| dialects = 
| influenced by = 
| influenced = [[Diesel (programming language)|Diesel]]
}}

'''Cecil''' is a pure [[Object-oriented programming|object-oriented]] [[programming language]] that was developed by [[Craig Chambers]] at the [[University of Washington]] in 1992 to be part of the Vortex project there. Cecil has many similarities to other object-oriented languages, most notably [[Objective-C]], [[Modula-3]], and [[Self (programming language)|Self]].<ref name="DeanDeFouw1996">{{cite conference |last1=Dean |first1=Jeffrey |last2=DeFouw |first2=Greg |last3=Grove |first3=David |last4=Litvinov |first4=Vassily |last5=Chambers |first5=Craig |title=Vortex: an optimizing compiler for object-oriented languages |book-title=Proceedings of the 11th ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming, systems, languages, and applications |conference=[[OOPSLA]]'96 |year=1996 |pages=83–100 |isbn=0-89791-788-X |doi=10.1145/236338.236344|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Chambers1992">{{cite conference |last1=Chambers |first1=Craig |title=Object-oriented multi-methods in Cecil |book-title=ECOOP ’92 European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming |series=[[Lecture Notes in Computer Science|LNCS]]| volume=615 |conference=[[European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming|ECOOP]]'92 |year=1992 |pages=33–56 |doi=10.1007/BFb0053029 |issn=0302-9743 |isbn=3-540-55668-0}}</ref> The main goals of the project were [[extensibility]], orthogonality, efficiency, and ease-of-use.

The language supports [[multiple dispatch]] and multimethods, dynamic [[Inheritance (object-oriented programming)|inheritance]], and optional [[static type checking]]. Unlike most other OOP systems, Cecil allows subtyping and code inheritance to be used separately, allowing run-time or external extension of object classes or instances. Like Objective-C, all object services in Cecil are invoked by [[message passing]], and the language supports run-time class identification. These features allow Cecil to support dynamic, [[exploratory programming]] styles. Parameterized types and methods ([[Generic programming|generics]], [[type polymorphism|polymorphism]]), [[garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collection]], and [[Delegation (programming)|delegation]] are also supported. Cecil also supports a module mechanism for isolating independent libraries or packages. Cecil does not presently support threads or any other form of concurrency. A standard library for Cecil is also available and includes various collection, utility, system, I/O, and GUI classes.

The [[Diesel (programming language)|Diesel]] language was the successor of Cecil.<ref>{{cite web |title=Diesel |publisher=[[University of Washington]] |url=http://wasp.cs.washington.edu/wasp_diesel.html}}</ref>