Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ogicse!plains!gus
From: gus@plains.UUCP (jim gustafson)
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: Re: intelligent self-modifying objects?
Message-ID: <5318@plains.UUCP>
Date: 17 Jul 90 22:03:14 GMT
Organization: North Dakota State University  Fargo, ND
Lines: 17

>it has been argued that object oriented programming allows for rapid
>adaptation to change.  so, what is the ultimate manifestation of such
>programs?  objects that can self-adapt to a changing environment?
>intelligent objects?  have we discovered an unintended approach to AI?

The ability of a program to to reason about itself, and modify it's
process state involves the concept of _computational reflection_.
Reflective languages such as modified Actors have been studied quite 
a bit by OOP researchers.  For a treatment of reflection in Smalltalk-80, 
see:

Foote, B. and Johnson, R.E., "Reflective facilities in Smalltalk-80", 
	Conf. Proc. OOPSLA '89, Oct., 1989, pp. 327-335.
--jwg.
-- 
Jim Gustafson	gus@plains.nodak.edu	
uunet!plains!gus (UUCP)	gus@plains (Bitnet)