Re: Efficency in OCaml

[Hendrik Tews <tews@tcs.inf.tu-dresden.de>]

Jerome Vouillon writes:
   From: Jerome Vouillon <Jerome.Vouillon@inria.fr>
   Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 01:09:39 +0200
   Subject: Re: Efficency in OCaml
   
   [...]
   
   Each object holds a table containing its methods (the table is shared
   among all objets of a same class). A unique integer is assigned at
   run-time to each method name of a program.  This integer is used as an
   index in this table to find the method. As the table is rather sparse,
   it is implemented as a two-level array (an array of arrays of
   functions). So, a method call
     "object#m e1 ... en"
   is compile in something that looks like
     "object.(0).(idx mod N).(idx / N) objet e1 ... en"
   where idx is the integer associated to the method name "m".
   
Sorry, I don't understand this. How can the compiler know idx, if
it is not known until run-time?

Bye,

Hendrik