Re: Are Messages First Class Entities In Java?

[Theodore C. Belding]

Let's put our assumptions on the table.  When you say:
 
> I disagree with Ted that one can build a General Purpose simulation
> environment without the concept of Methods as first class entities,
> (at least not without some serious recompilation requirements), but

what you are really saying is, Swarm's philosophy is that it is 
necessary to be able to probe every aspect of a simulation.  Is that an 
accurate characterization?

I don't agree that that is necessary.  It's one way of doing things, 
but it's not the only way -- objects could decide for themselves, for 
instance, what can or can't be probed. It's analogous to the way 
persistence is handled in C++.  This has the benefit that encapsulation
is respected.  And there's no reason why that would 
require recompilation of the framework itself, if that's what you mean
by recompilation issues.  Both design patterns and CORBA provide ways to 
avoid recompilation.

Again, I simply think it would be interesting to see what a general 
simulation framework would look like in C++.
 -Ted

--
Ted Belding                      <mailto:address@hidden> 
University of Michigan Program for the Study of Complex Systems
<http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~streak/>