Should there be a "top" type, root of the class hierarchy

[jeromesimeon]

Should there be a root of the type hierarchy, akin to Object in many object-oriented languages.

Currently each different kind of class has it's own root Asset for assets, Event for events, etc.

Having a root for the type hierarchy has a number of benefits, most notably when used in the context of a programming language using CTO (as Ergo is). See for instance the related Ergo issue accordproject/ergo#420

A possible way to achieve this is to use one of the existing classes, most probably Concept as the top of the hierarchy.

A possible corresponding definition for the systems types would become (in addition to the changes already included in the release-1.0 branch):

namespace system
abstract concept Concept {  }
abstract asset Asset extends Concept {  }
abstract transaction Transaction extends Concept { }
abstract event Event extends Concept { }
abstract participant Participant extends Concept {  }

[dselman]

I think we have addressed this now in #181 - do you agree?

[jeromesimeon]

I think so too!

I am wondering how we decide that it is? Is there any "subtype(Type1, Type2)" call in the API. Or "instanceof(Value,Type)" call in the API?

[dselman]

These changes have been merged to the release-1.0 branch.