In the conventional sense of the word, objects are anything that can
be seen or touched. Even in a software sense most people would associate
objects with visual images such as icons which represent metaphors of everyday
objects.
In an object oriented sense, objects are more abstract, they can be anything
which you can describe a boundary for. This definition allows objects,
described by one boundary, to be part of a larger object which is described
by a different boundary. Objects can also be recombined into different
arrangements to make up new objects just by describing a different boundary.
Such composite objects, which are composed of other objects, are known
as virtual objects.
Redescribing virtual objects to form different virtual objects is often
referred to as "morphing the paradigms" because you are changing
the patterns made by the objects.
Objects, in a computer programming sense, are areas in a computer memory
where computer code can be stored. They form the basis of object oriented
programming systems (OOPS) which is a technique whereby any complex system
can be re configured as a system of communicating modules.
The advantage of using objects represented by areas of code in a computer
memory is that the objects can represent any possible product of the imagination.
Such objects can be configured into complex abstract systems which are
then visualized as being made up of small independent conceptual modules
which link together by means of a communication architecture.
Computer code representing such abstractions can be made to model systems
which are limited in wonder and complexity only by the programmer's skill
and imagination.
Lists are a specific Lingo term for arrays: sequences of data held in
an ordered computer record field. They are indispensable tools for processing
and manipulating data and all computer languages support lists or arrays
in one form or another. For object oriented purposes, lists have another
major attribute: they can hold and manipulate objects, images and variables.
In the technical sense, lists of objects are just lists of memory addresses,
but, conceptually, they are far more powerful. Remembering that objects
in memory can represent any product of the imagination, an object list
can be a list of any conceivable collection of thoughts or concepts.
Placing objects and abstract concepts in list structures opens up completely
new ways to analyze and think about ideas. It allows us to physically process
and manipulate metaphysical constructs in ways which are completely different
to those of the classical methods associated with the conventional treatment
of philosophical issues.
Using conventional language and thinking, there are certain areas which
cannot be sensibly discussed or even comprehended. One of these areas is
the mind and its mechanisms of emotion and the sense of "self".
As was seen in "How God Makes God", using the convention of Lingo
lists and objects these concepts can be given a reality which enables them
to be studied, examined and experimented with.
[Index]
[Next - Paradigms and Morphing]
[Back - Heuristic strategies]
Peter Small August 1996
Email: peter@petersmall.com
Version 1.00
© Copyright 1996 Peter Small