classdb = table.coerce(classdb)

-- classdb.create: creates a new class database.
function classdb.create()
    return {}
end

-- Given a class database, removes all the functions that have
-- been inserted into it, but keeps the class and action tables.
function classdb.reset(db)
    for name,maybeclass in pairs(db) do
        local class = table.coerce(maybeclass)
        local action = table.coerce(rawget(class, "action"))
        table.rawclear(class)
        table.rawclear(action)
        rawset(db, name, class)
        class.action = action
        class.__index = class
        class.__class = name
    end
end

-- Given a class_db, makes an accessor that fetches classes
-- from that class db.
function classdb.accessor(db)
    return function(name)
        local class = rawget(db, name)
        if type(class) ~= "table" then
            class = {}
            rawset(db, name, class)
            class.action = {}
            class.__index = class
            class.__class = name
        end
        return class
    end
end

-- Make a global class database to use for the super.
classdb.database = {}
class = classdb.accessor(classdb.database)