Python

Acquisition

A new abstraction mechanism in which objects "inherit" properties from the containment hierarchy they're in.

Environmental Acquisition

Technical talk that inspired the incorporation of Acquisition into the Python programming language and considered a crucial mechanism in Zope, Python's Killer App.

Environmental Acquisition — A New Inheritance-Like Abstraction Mechanism

The class of an object is not necessarily the only determiner of its runtime behaviour. Often it is necessary to have an object behave differently depending upon the other objects to which it is connected. However, as it currently stands, …