trc (02/25/83)
As close as I can understand the concept of "observer" languages, the idea is that when the objects of the language communicate, the actions taken for a particular message would depend upon the nature of the sender as well as of the receiver. In an alternate view, it might be that the same action "observed" by different objects results in some internal change of state in the viewer. Thus, the "child" object sends the "pat" message to the "dog" object, and observes the "wagging" action. As a result, the child object changes its internal description of the dog object to include the designation "friendly". This will in turn affect how the child reacts to the dogs actions in the future. One neat possibility is that objects might observe actions that were not caused by messages from them. (EG another instance of the child object sees the dog wagging its tail, and also assumes that the dog is friendly.) Of course, this is just my own speculation. Tom Craver houti!trc American Bell
ka (02/26/83)
Sounds like this might mean parallel processes (although knowing Alan Kay, probably with a different name.) Kenneth Almquist