Lists and objects

Objects

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

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.

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Peter Small August 1996

Email: peter@petersmall.com

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© Copyright 1996 Peter Small