Newsgroups: comp.object.logic,comp.logic
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!gatech!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!csnews!coopnews.coop.net!indra.com!usenet
From: Jon Clough <jclough@ici.net>
Subject: Data Passing between Objects
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Reply-To: jclough@ici.net
Sender: usenet@indra.com (System Administrator)
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Organization: Indra's Net, Inc. -- Public Access Internet.
Message-ID: <323766BA.48A5@ici.net>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0b6Gold (Win95; I)
Mime-Version: 1.0
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: net.indra.com
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 01:26:18 GMT
Lines: 28

My question is, how does one pass data between a large number of objects
without creating a unit that is so large and unwieldy that it uses
excessive system resources, (or exceeds the platform's limits for unit
size).

I'm working with a very large model (water ecology) in which there is a
sizeable list of state variables.  Each of these objects changes from
one time-step to the next depending on the values of one or more of the
other state variables.   So they all need to access each other, and the
list object that holds them all needs to access each of them as well,
for larger data management / initialization issues.  

My problem is, the unit in which all of these objects and their methods
are stored is getting very large (greater than 64K) and exceeds the
limit for the platform I'm working on.  Having one unit use another does
not work, because the other unit still needs the data captured in the
first one.  Thus circular USE clauses.

My belief is that in a more pure object oriented design, these units
would be self reliant in such a manner that they would not need to be
lumped in the same unit.  I'm still a novice at OOP, though, so I'm not
sure how to set this up.

It is a difficult problem, given how much each of the objects needs to
know about each other, and also given that the list object itself needs
to know about the data held in each of these objects as well.

Any advice?  Thanks!  JonC
