[cap-talk] "Composite", was "Same" key

[Karp, Alan H]

David Hopwood wrote:
> 
> That is, we all agree that there are two concepts in 
> capability systems,
> call them 'foo' and 'bar', such that:
> 
>  - the system semantics are only directly defined in terms of 'foos',
>  - a capability designates and grants permission to invoke a 'foo',
>  - descriptions of the system's behaviour can involve 'bars', 
> such that:
>  - one or more 'foos' implement each 'bar',
>  - only some of the 'foos' that implement a given 'bar' are visible to
>    any particular client of the 'bar'.
> 
> At least, I'm assuming we agree on that. Do we?
> 
I thought we did on first reading, but now I realize that I don't
understand what you're saying.
> 
> Why do you start with, "To me, an object ...", rather than 
> first agreeing on
> the concepts, and then agreeing on what the concepts should be called?
> 
Astronomers always do things backwards.  Would you be happier if I had
written "the thing that encapsulates state and methods is what I call an
object"?

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Alan Karp
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Virus Safe Computing Initiative
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