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This file is part of Logtalk <https://logtalk.org/>  
Copyright 1998-2022 Paulo Moura <pmoura@logtalk.org>  
SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

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Design pattern:
	Twin

Description:
	This design pattern provides an alternative for the use of
	multiple inheritance, based on defining two (or more) tightly
	coupled instances of the parent class whose protocol we want
	to inherit, hence the pattern name. Each instance refers to the
	other and is responsible for its parent protocol, forwarding to
	its twin other messages.

This pattern can be used with both classes and prototypes.

This pattern is not described in the GoF book. See e.g. the following
Wikipedia page for details and references:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_pattern

Logtalk supports multiple inheritance (and also multiple instantiation).
But its support for categories often allows better solutions. This pattern
provides a third alternative that can be preferable in some cases. When
compared with a category-based solution, a key difference is that, with
categories, each category protocol adds to the protocol of the object
(importing the categories) while with this pattern each object must use
message forwarding to its twin object (and thus one level of indirection).
Note that this pattern implies a circular reference between the twin
objects, which prevents some static binding optimizations.
