[vos-d] s/MetaObject/Component

[Peter Amstutz]

On Thu, Nov 29, 2007 at 01:33:22PM +0100, Karsten Otto wrote:

> > Also "metaobject" is
> > an existing term of art in the programming language community  
> > having to
> > do with defining and manipulating the semantics of how programming
> > language objects are invoked, and while this is something that will
> > exist in VOS, the current "MetaObject" class isn't it.
> >
> Ok, I heared that term before, but am not quite sure what it means an  
> certainly don't use it in day-to-day programming (maybe I'm just old- 
> fashioned).

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?MetaObjectProtocol

It's not something people use in day-to-day programming (unless your job 
involves Common Lisp or Smalltalk) but it is an entrenched term in the 
object-oriented community, so I prefer to avoid the confusion.

> I understand your desire to avoid a clash of terms, but I don't think  
> "Component" is a good replacement; in fact it may make things worse!   
> If you absolutely have to rename it, I'd rather see one of the other  
> fuzzy terms like Facet, Aspect, ...

Well, "Aspect" implies (to me) aspect-oriented programming.  "Facet" is 
a possibility, although I've mainly encountered that in the capability 
security community where it has a little bit different connotation (as a 
possibly-restricted "view" or "handle" that mediates access to some 
underlying object).

The most common use of term "component" is probably in the context of 
COM, XPCOM, KParts and so forth type of systems where it simply implies 
loosely-coupled objects, with separatation of interface and 
implementation and often dynamicly loadable and language-neutral.  The 
plan is for S5 VOS vobject MetaObjects to do all those things, hence 
changing the name to "component".

On a side note, I have been meaning to sit down and do a writeup on s5 
development progress, which will hopefully clarify things a bit.  While 
for several months I was working part time to be able to devote time to 
VOS, I am presently working full time again for financial reasons, so 
VOS development is squeezed -- even writing email.

-- 
[   Peter Amstutz  ][ tetron at interreality.org ][ peter.amstutz at gdit.com ]
[Lead Programmer][Interreality Project][Virtual Reality for the Internet]
[ VOS: Next Generation Internet Communication][ http://interreality.org ]
[ http://interreality.org/~tetron ][ pgpkey:  pgpkeys.mit.edu  18C21DF7 ]

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