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Meaning of contravariance | Babel Free

Noun CEFR C2

Definitions

  1. The reversal of the order of data types acted upon by an operator.
    countable, uncountable
  2. A functor which reverses composition.
    countable, uncountable
  3. Of vectors, the property of scaling inversely with a change of basis, as opposed to covariance.
    countable, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“I get why with covariance I can return a Dog (a Dog is a Mammal), but why does contravariance work the other way? Shouldn't it accept a derived type when it expects a base type? Contravariance is consistent with Postel's Law: […]”

CEFR level

C2
Mastery
This word is part of the CEFR C2 vocabulary — mastery level.

See also

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