>The term toy, whether Stefan intended it to be negative or not, 
>simply isn't accurate or appropriate.

Could you please suggest a better name which puts the emphazise the
following scenario:  According to my definition, a model railway is a toy.
People create large installations for their own enjoyment, exploring the
world of trains and rails.  Now model railways are seldom used as a device
to solve some special problems.  They're used as something to which you add
some rules to create your own private game.  On the other hand, a hammer is
typically a tool.  You can use it as a toy (again by combining the toy with
rules to create a game) but most often, people use a hammer in a greater
task of construction (perhaps to nail tracks of rails on a board).

If I use Squeak to explore the difficulties of adding multiple inheritance,
Squeak is a toy and I'm playing a game born out of my curiosity.  Of
course, if now my task is to create a system with multiple inheritance,
Squeak can be also a tool to solve that task, but IMHO this is more an
exception than the rule.  

So what's a better name for "toy?"  A laboratory?


bye
--
Stefan Matthias Aust  //  Don't talk.  Just doIt.