Developers of custom software and educational simulations.
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Kurtz-Fernhout Software Developers of custom software and educational simulations. |
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StoryHarp Product area Help System Index Introduction Definitions Tutorials Worlds Agent StoryHarp & IF StoryHarp & Java Registering |
Is StoryHarp an object-oriented system?As the tutorials show, you can put objects into a StoryHarp audioventure. But does that mean StoryHarp supports object-oriented development? StoryHarp was inspired in part by the Smalltalk-80 object-oriented development environment. Some of the ideas behind those tools (particularly the browser) were then wrapped around some ideas for knowledge representation similar to that of William Kent (such as outlined in his book Data & Reality). Is StoryHarp then an object-oriented development tool? In the sense that a context can be used like a prototype object (or frame), and rules with a context are like slots in that frame, and that all this can be used to present illusions that for a brief time appear to act as objects in the real world might (for the duration of a mouse click or two), the answer would be a qualified yes. In the sense of what people normally expect from an object-oriented system, supporting (to use the jargon) encapsulation, polymorphism, inheritance, and so on, the answer would be a clear no. Of course, saying a system is object-oriented is no magic word; the only thing that matters is whether the system is useful. |
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Updated: March 10, 1999. Questions/comments on site to webmaster@kurtz-fernhout.com. Copyright © 1998, 1999 Paul D. Fernhout & Cynthia F. Kurtz. |