Thanks! That helps. And, yes, that was what I had in mind. I had similarly simple examples, but, when I said that I couldn't come up with a simple example, I meant that I couldn't come up with one that had a justifiable need, without getting reasonably complex.

I like both of the last two solutions, at least to some extent (the first one is, as you said, "rude"). I had proceeded down an approach similar to the second one, and found that it works. It just seems as if it is a general enough requirement that the language should have built in support for it (and I thought it might already be there and I couldn't find it). But, given the extensible nature of XOTcl (and Tcl, in general), I suppose I can add it to my environment and not worry about the rest of the world.

The last solution is one that I had not considered. I find it intriguing and may use it as well. My first objection was that a class proc does not normally have access to instance variables. But, this can be solved by passing in the object itself. This still feels kind of wrong, but I can imagine there may be times when it works.

Finally, I did not appreciate all of the complexities that would be involved with eliminating polymorphism. (Of course, I don't really want to eliminate polymorphism; I just want to start the search higher up the tree.) I'm just glad there is someone in a position to appreciate, understand, and plan for these complexities.

Thanks again, Kurt Stoll