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Cross-MOO OOP Code Sharing (WAS: "verbing properties" and related issues)

The problem with sharing generic objects between moos is not encapsulation, but object number reconciliation.  I know Quinn's Generic Clothing is shared on many MOOs, I ported it to my own once.  It was a fornicating pain in the donkey, all because my object numbers had no chance in purgatory of matching those of the source MOO.

I think the #1 feature that would solve this is the implemention of a cross-MOO or globaly unique numbering system.  I know every anti-Microsoft person in the world is about to flood my mailbox, but to simplify porting we need something like an OLE GUID.  Thus a reference to Quins Generic Clothing is exactly the same on every MOO.

This is almost provided by properties on #0 ($clothing for example).  It's just not adhered to very well, mostly because of the bloat on #0 and the security implications of letting any user publish an object by making a property on #0.  We also have the problem of duality.  What if Azure Guest's Generic Clothing seems better to me and I'd rather use it than what $clothing points to?

I have no solutions to offer... it's just something that annoys me, and misery loves company.

-Fiona

----------
From: 	Nick Ingolia[SMTP:ningolia@neon.ci.lexington.ma.us]
Sent: 	Friday, August 02, 1996 12:03 AM
To: 	moo-cows@parc.xerox.com
Subject: 	Re: "verbing properties" and related issues

...several unfortunate side effects.  Most notable among these is a lack of
"reusable objects".  One of the chief advantages cited for object-
oriented programming is the reusability of code in an OO environment.  It
is worth noting that there are virtually no generic objects being shared
...
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