Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!Germany.EU.net!mcsun!uunet!mnemosyne.cs.du.edu!nyx!pshepard
From: pshepard@nyx.cs.du.edu (Pat Shepard)
Subject: A couple of ideas about properties
Message-ID: <1992Dec5.175641.8054@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
Sender: usenet@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu (netnews admin account)
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 92 17:56:41 GMT
Lines: 35


I have a couple of ideas about properties.  Hopefully they can help
along the discussion already present...

First, about how to designate properties.  I am a wizard on an LPMUD
(no flames please :) and properties there are designated in the following
format: OBJECT_I_NO_DROP.  What this means is that it is an object
property, an integer, and its name is NO_DROP.  This pretty much makes it
very obvious A) The appropriate context of the property (objects), B)
What values the property accepts (integers) and C) What the property *is*.
 
Obviously the *reason* this naming system for properties was introduced
was the large number of people attempting to coordinate their programming
on a Mud.  But I think it would work quite well in an expanded include 
file which many different people would be using.  It would also make sure
sample code on rec.arts.int-fiction was easily understandable.
 
The second idea I had is also ultimately from LPC, that of string
properties.
OBJECT_S_SHAPE, for example, would be the string that holds an
object's shape.  String properties would definitely be something to 
avoid most of the time...for size, weight etc. integer values would be 
much easier to use...but for things like shape it would work well.
 
A lock, for example, might only open for objects with both the proper
size and the proper shape string.  
 
I *do* like the static/dynamic distinction mentioned before, though I
agree that the names should be different.  Perhaps "primary" for those
properties an object *has* to have a value for (size, shape etc) and
"secondary" for those properties an object might or might not have?
**
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