Re: Tool class (Long... *real* Long)

[Sven N. Thommesen]

At 01:17 AM 3/20/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>Hi all,
>
>I just want to bounce a concept off y'all... 
>
>    - An object is an encapsulation of data members
>      (i.e."state") and methods.
>
>    - An agent is an extension of object such that: 
>         - it "exists" in some "context" (i.e. its
>           world),
>      and 
>         - it "schedules" execution of its own methods to
>           carry out some prescribed behavior.  
>
>    - A tool is also an extension of object and, like agents
>         - it "exists" in some "context", 
>      but, unlike agents,
>         - it is instructed (by an agent, perhaps) to
>           perform some function,
>      and otherwise, like an object, 
>         - it does "nothing" on its own.


It occurs to me that the difference between a "tool" and an
"agent" might become small indeed -- for example [to stay in
Ken's bailiwick] if the "object" being "given" by Agent A to
Agent B needs to fly from point a to point b before having its
desired 'impact' ... In other words, if a user asks a tool to do
something that will take sim time, the tool needs to make use
of the scheduling apparatus and becomes, by Ken's definition,
an agent !

All of which does not invalidate the usefulness of the 
functionality he suggests.

Instead of CoolTools, perhaps RoboAgents ?

--Sven