Jim writes: > I agree, but until such time as there is support for late-binding/ > dyanamically-loaded shared libraries, that allow developers to simply > "pick-up" a set of object tools, rather than re-invent them each time, then > I reckon OO software will be relegated to specific-purpose applications > which can justify their supporting environment, rather than used for general > purpose development. This only applies to 'pure' object environments like Smalltalk in which the environment is almost totally isolated from the underlying system. Several OO languages support late-binding and/or dynamically-loaded libraries. Python for example. What you may find interesting is something new from Xerox PARC called ILU (Inter Language Unification) which is a CORBA compatible destributed objects facility which has language bindings to C, C++, Modula 3, Common Lisp, and Python. You can find out all about ILU at: ftp://parcftp.parc.xerox.com/pub/ilu/ilu.html G.