Verb binding

[Chris Gray]

I was thinking about this last night, and Nathan's note reminded me...

What about a situation like this: there is an apple tree, and you want
to be able to pick apples from it. I do this by having two kinds of
apples, one on the tree, and the other in the hand. So, you can refer
to 'apple' whether or not you have picked one. The 'pick' verb is global,
so it has no trouble generating a new apple for you, whether or not you
have one in your hand. How would you guys do this with verbs bound to
objects? The 'pick' verb on the apple in your hand would get called, and
its going to have to go out and figure out whether an apple tree is
nearby, and do the right stuff to generate a new apple. This is exactly
what a global 'pick' verb does. In that case you have to first search
for the verb (likely finding it on the apple being carried, but perhaps
you have some way to force it to happen for the hidden on-tree apple),
and then the verb has to search for a tree.

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA