METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING COMPATIBILITY OF PARENT CLASSES IN AN OBJECT ORIENTED ENVIRONMENT USING VERSIONING

A method and apparatus in a computer for comparing version information contained within class definitions to determine compatibility between classes in a hierarchy within an object oriented system.Version information is collected from the class being instantiated and its parent class. This information includes current version, compatible versions, and the version requirements of the class of its parent class. The required version is used to determine compatibility with the parent class. The runtime system utilizes this collection of information from both class definitions, analyzes the version relationship and determines the course of action to take based on this analysis.