[FRIAM] What is an object?

[glen]

Every one of the responses so far has said this. But it might help to say it differently, anyway. Objects, unlike utilities or functions and other "soft ware", have *particularity*. Each object is distinct from all other objects, regardless of how similar they may be.

It may be useful to analogize to music media. A vinyl LP is a particular instance of the music, as is a CD. The crisis in the music industry was largely about the ease with which we could construct, copy, instantiate, a new particulate that was very similar to the parent particulate.

Viewed in terms of particularity, objecthood is largely about lineage and the (lack of) historical accumulation of idiosyncracies.

On July 17, 2018 7:06:57 PM PDT, Nick Thompson <nickthompson at earthlink.net> 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 

-- 
glen