[FRIAM] What is an object?

Russell Standish lists at hpcoders.com.au
Tue Jul 17 23:05:01 EDT 2018


Not sure about "utility"/"tool", but an object is distinguished from a
function by having state. Call an object's method, and the method's
scope is populated by the object's data members, which of course,
differ from object to object.

By contrast a function either has no state (pure function), or its
state is global (same for every function invocation).

Cheers

On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 10:06:57PM -0400, Nick Thompson wrote:
> Dave, and anybody else who wants to play. 
> 
>  
> 
> I have always been puzzled by the question of how one distinguishes an
> object in object programming from a utility in DOS or a tool in Matlab.  Or
> any mathematical function, for that matter.  You give it what it needs, and
> it gives you what it's supposed to, and you don't give a damn how it works. 
> 
>  
> 
> Please don't yell at me.
> 
>  
> 
> Nick 
> 
>  
> 
> Nicholas S. Thompson
> 
> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
> 
> Clark University
> 
> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
> 
>  
> 

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Dr Russell Standish                    Phone 0425 253119 (mobile)
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