On Wednesday 09 December 2009 07:38:31 am Josh Gargus wrote:
> n Dec 8, 2009, at 4:08 PM, Andreas Raab wrote:
> > Hi Göran -
> > 
> > Unbelievable. You basically just described the very idea that started
> > this whole traits thing. When Nathanael worked with us at Disney, the
> > traits direction came out of discussions where we wanted him to think
> > precisely along the lines you're describing. My original thoughts on this
> > matter was that I wanted to have something more like (biological) cells -
> > entities that are made up of smaller things (objects), that have an
> > inside and an outside (made up of other objects instead of abstractions
> > like the interface/implementation distinction), that forward signals
> > (messages) to the appropriate receptors etc.
> 
> Ted and Ian at VPRI recently wrote short notes on this topic:
> http://www.vpri.org/pdf/m2009014_membrane.pdf     (Ted)
How is this different from a "Bus" (e.g. D-Bus) -  an active container where 
objects can connect to a receptor, seek other objects, get an object 
instantiated (if necessary), communicate with them and disconnect. Objects 
retain their autonomy and gain the ability to collaborate with peer objects 
across an active container.

Subbu