metatable transmission

[spir <denis.spir@...>]

Hello,

This is mainly in the frame of OO & inheritance. I realized the following; but not quite sure to properly understand every point.

Say I have a Collection type with a custom "view" method pointed by Collection's metatable __tostring key. Now, imagine I want a more specialized Sequence type inheriting from Collection, including its metatable. Sequence, indeed, has a different view; to make it work with print(), I need to let its metatable __tostring key point to the new method.
But then --here is the trap--, Collections may now print out like Sequences, unless I have copied the metatable's _content_ instead of (a pointer to) the metatable itself.

Is there something incorrect in this reasoning, or a point I'm missing?
(If not, I hope it helps future OO framework designers.)

Denis
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