COMP.OBJECT FAQ Version: 1.0.9 Date: 4/2/96
Author: Robert John Hathaway III Object Magazine Online Cyberdyne Object Systems oofaq@cyberdyne-object-sys.com
Copyright 1997 Bob Hathaway All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to freely copy and distribute this document but only with this full header attached and at no cost to others with the exception of a nominal distribution fee, if any. No sale, resale or reprinting is granted without the explicit written permission of the author.
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Mail Server: (See also section 1.24) mail mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu Subject: send usenet-by-group/news.answers/object-faq/*
Cyberdyne is preferred over rtfm for anonymous ftp retrieval, as it provides a single file. Rtfm contains the FAQ as posted. Cyberdyne and rtfm (and its mirrors) are the only sites guaranteed to be up-to-date. To use the hypertext system, see APPENDIX E, entries 27. Browsers such as Netscape, Spry Mosaic, Microsoft Explorer, and many others are also widely available.
Comp.Object Archive: A new and workable comp.object archive is now available on the www, with much thanks to Markus A. Beckmann, beckmann@informatik.mathematik.uni-mainz.de. http://aaimzb.mathematik.uni-mainz.de/Personal/Mitarbeiter/comp.object.idx.html
Object Magazine Online: A related and free new on-line Object resource edited by yours truly: http://www.sigs.com/omo - Please take a look!
Contributors: Per Abrahamsen, Margaret Burnett, Edwardo Casais, Stewart Clamen, Dennis De Champeaux, Mike DeVaney, Eric Dujardin, Piercarlo Grandi, Tim Harvey, Brian Henderson-Sellers, Urs Hoelzle, Paul Johnson, Bill Kinnersley, Oscar Nierstrasz, James Odell, David Wheeler, Eoin Woods, and many others whose contributions have helped this document to fulfull its objective of bringing object-oriented concepts and systems to everyone. Special thanks to Object Systems, Geodesic Systems and Cyberdyne Systems for providing the support and resources needed to make this effort possible. Object Systems was primarily a "think tank" and producer of object-oriented technologies, Geodesic Systems provided patronage for a time, and we are at present under the auspices of Cyberdyne. Formatted and submitted entries for the new Appendix G are most welcome.
Objective: In the spirit of other FAQs, to provide a simple document to answer the most frequently asked and recurring questions and to allow new users to understand frequently discussed topics and terms used in comp.object. This should bring new comp.object readers and/or writers to at least an introductory level of comprehension as soon as possible. Other goals (hopes) are to provide a quick and current reference on available systems such as object- oriented languages, CASE, OODB and etc. and to provide good references to current and relevant OO systems, groups, texts and literature.
Disclaimer: This document does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the author's or any contributor's companies. There are no explicit or implicit guarantees implied by this document.
While object systems are a constantly changing and moving target with a broad diversity of often conflicting methodologies, constructs, terminologies, approaches, languages, implementations and etc. and comp.object has a wide diversity of readers and writers ranging from students, professors and researchers in academia to beginners, professionals, top-notch experts and leaders in industry with a broad range of experience and backgrounds ranging across many paradigms, this FAQ can certainly not aspire to satisfy all of them completely but instead attempts to provide the most well-rounded treatment of object-oriented concepts and realizations primarily from the mainstream and popular authors and systems and further to provide a collection of available systems and tools in the appendices.
Several improvements are planned for future FAQs, including a glossary.