EP0725337A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Data processing system
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1995-12-05
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2015-12-05
Abstract
Abstract A method and system provides a prototypical object 220 which can be copied to create a derived object. A derived object can contain attribute values or it can hold a reference to its prototypical object. If a required value is not held by the prototypical object, the object searches up an object hierarchy to find the required attribute. In addition, each object can register an interest in a prototypical object that contains required attributes. If an attribute of a prototypical object changes, the prototypical object informs all registered objects of the change. At runtime, the prototypical object becomes a master object whose attribute values can be changed by the user, whereby changes in master object attributes are propagated to all registered derived objects.
Inventors
- 👤 Richard E. Berry
- 👤 Amitabh Shukla
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 09:52
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F8/00; G06F8/30; G06F8/38; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/44; G06F9/448; G06F9/4488; G06F9/4492
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
80 words
A data processing system having an object oriented development environment including an object hierarchy utilizing property inheritance, said system being characterised by: a prototypical object (220) in said object hierarchy; a derived object derived from said prototypical object, said derived object being in said object hierarchy and having at least one attribute (312); and attribute delegation means associated with said derived object for retrieving a value of said at least one attribute by searching said object hierarchy for said value.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
20 words
The data processing system of claim 1, wherein said object hierarchy further comprises a containment parent of said prototypical object.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
23 words
The data processing system of claim 1 or 2, wherein said object hierarchy further comprises a static class prototype for said prototypical object.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
16 words
The data processing system of any preceding claim, wherein said object hierarchy further comprises a desktop.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
22 words
The data processing system of any preceding claim, wherein said object hierarchy further comprises a user profile having at least one attribute.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
26 words
The data processing system of any preceding claim , further comprising object registration means for registering an interest of said derived object in said prototypical object.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
30 words
The data processing system of any preceding claim, further comprising conversion means for converting an application developed with said object oriented development environment into a runtime application having master objects.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
17 words
An object oriented development environment adapted for use in the data processing system of any preceding claim.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
71 words
A method of developing an object oriented application, adapted for execution on a data processing system, in an object oriented development environment including an object hierarchy utilizing property inheritance, characterised by the steps of: creating a prototypical object in said object hierarchy; deriving a derived object having at least one attribute from said prototypical object; and searching said object hierarchy to retrieve a value for said attribute of said derived object.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 9, wherein said object hierarchy comprises a containment parent of said prototypical object.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein said object hierarchy comprises a static class prototype for said prototypical object.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
25 words
The method of any of claims 9 to 11, further comprising the step of registering an interest of said derived object in said prototypical object.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of any of claim 9 to 12, further comprising the step of converting said application developed with said object oriented development environment into a runtime application having a master object.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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