In computer science, dynamic dispatch (also known as dynamic binding) is the process of mapping a message to a specific sequence of code (method) at runtime. This is done to support the cases where the appropriate method can't be determined at compile-time (i.e., statically). Dynamic dispatch is only used for code invocation and not for other binding processes (such as for global variables) and the name is normally only used to describe a language feature where a runtime decision is required to determine which code to invoke.
This object-oriented feature allows substituting a particular implementation using the same interface, and therefore it enables polymorphism.
Read more about Dynamic Dispatch: Single and Multiple Dispatch, Dynamic Dispatch Mechanisms
Famous quotes containing the word dynamic:
“The nearer a conception comes towards finality, the nearer does the dynamic relation, out of which this concept has arisen, draw to a close. To know is to lose.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)