David wrote:
> >I don't follow.  If cWindow class is a subclass of cObject (the base
> >class), and as such inherits cObject's methods and properties, and you
> >pass an object of type cObject to a function, why would that function
> >need or want to use cWindow's Draw method rather than cObjects?

Mel replied:
> Wanna scare a possible FB3 sale away? Let'em read that first paragraph.

Darn good point, Mel.  Although object-oriented programming is very
useful and powerful (especially in big, modular projects), and it could
make a great enhancement to FB, I hope that Staz & Co. are looking at it
this way, namely:

FB3 has to be easy to use.  If it strays _too_ far from the original
intuitiveness of the BASIC language, you might as well start calling it
"C++ with a few BASIC features thrown in."

I applaud the efforts to make FB more powerful, but I hope it is done
with an eye toward what makes BASIC appealing, and that the new features
are integrated smoothly within that framework.  If, in designing FB3,
you copy too closely the way things are done in C -- well, the advantage
is that it makes it easier for C-literate programmers to port their
code, but the disadvantage is that C is simply an icky language, and
makes a poor "role model" when you're designing a new language.  Think
of how many millions of man-hours of code-development time could have
been saved today, if the developers of C language had had an inkling of
the concept of "Human Factors."  (In fairness, they probably viewed C as
something of a quick-&-dirty solution, and probably didn't realize it
would "catch on" so.)

FB^3 has an opportunity to re-invent the way OOP is done, and to make it
accessible.  When Bjarne Stroustrup invented the C++ flavor of OOP, he
was constrained by the need to make it work within the framework of an
ugly language.  Staz & Co. don't have that constraint, so I hope they
take advantage of that fact.  Wouldn't it be _really_cool_ if FB^3 could
deliver the power of OOP to the "average man," who would be scared off
by the C++ way?  ("OOP for the rest of us" :-)

- Rick

p.s. Reminds me of my Bjarne Stroustrup story, which I'll post in
another message.