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From: Jeffrey Carter <jeffrey.carter@boeing.com>
Subject: Re: on package naming, should the word
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John McCabe wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 15 Oct 2001 20:26:35 GMT, Ted Dennison<dennison@telepath.com>
> wrote:
> 
> >The way I was taught it, an "object" consists of a data type, together with the
> >operations on that type. Since a package is one means of encapsulating both
> >those things into one concept, it can indeed be considered an "object".
> 
> For a generic package, sure, but not a non-generic package. An object
> is a specific instance of a more generalised entity. The more
> generalised entity may be a user-defined or language-defined type, a
> Class (e.g in C++ and Java) etc.
> 
> A (non-generic) package is simply a means of encapsulating something
> that can be instantiated as an object - e.g. a tagged type.

Bollards! A non-generic package may be the only instance of a design
concept:

package Stupid_Queue is
   procedure Put (Item : in Integer);

   function Get return Integer;
end Stupid_Queue;

[Properly documenting this specification and implementing the body are
left as exercises for the reader.]

This is an instance of the more general concept of a queue of integers.
This is a contrived example that should never be found in practice, but
application-specific cases in which neither extensibility nor multiple
instances are required are certainly not impossible to conceive.

-- 
Jeffrey Carter