[DGD] data inheritance: multiple vs single ancestry

[Kent Mein]

On Mar 21, 2013, at 8:40 PM, Raymond Jennings <shentino at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ok, just curious about this:
> 
> Phantasmal has "archetypes" where properties and things can be
> inherited from multiple ancestors.  In some cases, the prime ancestor
> (first on the list) is used for stuff that can't be aggregated,
> whereas things like nouns and adjectives can be inherited from every
> parent.
> 
> However, SkotOS as you know has only a single "ur (you are)" pointer
> and data inheritance is forcibly singular.
> 
> Is it better to allow multiple ancestry, or are things better off with
> the simple model where you can only have one parent?


I don't know if there is an absolute answer to your question.  I prefer to
keep things simple.  Otherwise you wind up with stuff like this:

http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~mein/dgd/objects.png

gurbalib's current basic objects and inheritance….

It can easily get out of control.  Having said all of that, I think it's useful if used
in the right way.

Kent