The object standardization challenge

The real challenge in object standardization is to reconcile diverse views of what an object inherently ‘is’. This is harder than agreeing on definitions of secondary characteristics such as type and inheritance. User interfaces visualize objects as things in two-dimensional space. Programming thinks of objects as active things that communicate with each other, such as editors and print programs. Database leans more toward objects as participants in operations, such as documents and printers. Unifying these, in a kind of wave/particle dualism, is intellectually tempting, but leads to its own anomalies. Such fundamental questions need sorting out before we can converge on object standards spanning these disciplines.