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Objects in the MOO Database

Objects are, in a sense, the whole point of the MOO programming language. They are used to represent objects in the virtual reality, like people, rooms, exits, and other concrete things. Because of this, MOO makes a bigger deal out of creating objects than it does for other kinds of value, like integers.

Numbers always exist, in a sense; you have only to write them down in order to operate on them. With objects, it is different. The object with number `#958' does not exist just because you write down its number. An explicit operation, the `create()' function described later, is required to bring an object into existence. Symmetrically, once created, objects continue to exist until they are explicitly destroyed by the `recycle()' function (also described later).

The identifying number associated with an object is unique to that object. It was assigned when the object was created and will never be reused, even if the object is destroyed. Thus, if we create an object and it is assigned the number `#1076', the next object to be created will be assigned `#1077', even if `#1076' is destroyed in the meantime.

Every object is made up of three kinds of pieces that together define its behavior: attributes, properties, and verbs.


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