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<TITLE>LambdaMOO Programmer's Manual - Objects</TITLE>
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<H2><A NAME="SEC4" HREF="ProgrammersManual_toc.html#TOC4">Objects in the MOO Database</A></H2>
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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.
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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
<SAMP>`#958'</SAMP> does not exist just because you write down its number. An
explicit operation, the <SAMP>`create()'</SAMP> 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 <SAMP>`recycle()'</SAMP>
function (also described later).
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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 <SAMP>`#1076'</SAMP>, the next object to be
created will be assigned <SAMP>`#1077'</SAMP>, even if <SAMP>`#1076'</SAMP> is destroyed
in the meantime.
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Every object is made up of three kinds of pieces that together define its
behavior: <STRONG>attributes</STRONG>, <STRONG>properties</STRONG>, and <STRONG>verbs</STRONG>.
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<LI><A HREF="ProgrammersManual_5.html#SEC5">Attributes</A>: Fundamental Object Attributes
<LI><A HREF="ProgrammersManual_6.html#SEC6">Properties</A>: Properties on Objects
<LI><A HREF="ProgrammersManual_7.html#SEC7">Verbs</A>: Verbs on Objects
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