2. WHAT IS POLYMORPHISM?
• POLYMORPHISM DEFINITION: THE TERM POLYMORPHISM IS
SEPARATELY DEFINED IN FOUR SCIENTIFIC
DISCIPLINES: BIOLOGY, GENETICS,
BIOCHEMISTRY, AND COMPUTER SCIENCE.
3. WHAT IS POLYMORPHISM IN BIOLOGY?
• IN THE BIOLOGICAL CONTEXT, POLYMORPHISM REFERS TO THE IDEA THAT
MEMBERS OF THE SAME POPULATION OR COLONY CAN TAKE ON DIFFERENT
VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS.
4. WHAT IS POLYMORPHISM IN GENETICS?
• IN GENETICS, POLYMORPHISM REFLECTS VARIATION IN THE GENETIC CODING
OF INDIVIDUALS IN A POPULATION.
5. WHAT IS POLYMORPHISM IN BIOCHEMISTRY?
• IN THE FIELD OF BIOCHEMISTRY, THE TERM POLYMORPHISM IS USED TO
DESCRIBE SUBTLE STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES IN PROTEINS THAT ARE
OTHERWISE IDENTICAL.
6. POLYMORPHISM DEFINITION ROOTS
• LOOKING AT THE GREEK ROOTS OF THE TERM POLYMORPHISM CAN HELP TO
FURTHER CLARIFY THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THESE DEFINITIONS. THE
WORD POLY MEANS "MANY" AND THE WORD MORPH MEANS "FORM", SO
WHEN WE TALK ABOUT A POLYMORPHISM WE'RE TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING
THAT APPEARS IN MANY DIFFERENT FORMS.
7. WHAT IS POLYMORPHISM IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND PROGRAMMING?
• THIS BRINGS US TO OUR COMPUTER SCIENCE DEFINITION OF POLYMORPHISM
- WE'LL OFFER THREE DIFFERENT VERSIONS FOR MAXIMUM CLARITY.
• POLYMORPHISM IS A FEATURE OF OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES THAT ALLOWS A SPECIFIC ROUTINE TO USE VARIABLES OF
DIFFERENT TYPES AT DIFFERENT TIMES
• POLYMORPHISM IS THE ABILITY OF A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE TO PRESENT
THE SAME INTERFACE FOR SEVERAL DIFFERENT UNDERLYING DATA TYPES
• POLYMORPHISM IS THE ABILITY OF DIFFERENT OBJECTS TO RESPOND IN A
UNIQUE WAY TO THE SAME MESSAGE
