System for persistent and delayed allocation object reference in an object oriented environment

摘要

A data structure and method for uniquely identifying, and optimizing access to, object instances in an object oriented programming environment on a data processor containing a memory. Objects are categorized into one or more classes which define the method of the categorized objects, and messages are sent by the data processor to objects to perform actions. The data structure consists of a persistent portion containing a unique object identifier and a non-persistent portion containing the access address of an instance data frame in memory. The access address is set to the address of the instance data frame control block when the message is sent in order to optimize subsequent messages to the same object instance. The instance data frame control blocks are not allocated in memory until a first message is sent to an instance.