Paradigms and Morphing

You can always tell when something new is happening in a scientific or technical field when unusual or unfamiliar words get bandied about. Quite often, they indicate that new concepts are being employed which are not fully explainable in terms of ordinary current language.

In new media and object oriented programming circles the two fashionable words are "paradigm" and "morphing". These two words encapsulate the concept of multiple forms or patterns existing within object oriented frameworks.

Paradigms are possible patterns, or, methodological frameworks within a structure. The Oxford Dictionary tells us that Wittgenstein used the term "to denote a logical or conceptual structure serving as a form of thought within a given area of experience".

Also, the Oxford dictionary tells us that A. F. Parker- Rhodes described the concept of paradigm as useful for approaching problems of mathematizing the process of syntactical description with greatly enhanced resources.

Paradigm has thus been adopted to encapsulate the concept of the forms or patterns which can exist in an object oriented environment where objects not only have flexible boundaries, but, can also be combined in many different ways to form into any number of different virtual objects.

"Morphing" or "polymorphing" is a contemporary verb which comes from the words polymorphic or polymorphous which denote that something can exist in several forms. Clearly, the terms polymorphic and paradigm have many conceptual similarities as they both refer to multiform entities.

In the world of coded objects, where real existence is in the form of binary states, everything is about metaphors and paradigms. The essential difference between the two is that metaphors usually refer to fixed models or forms whereas paradigms refer to quasi states or changeable forms.

Seeing objects from different paradigms, or moving between different possible patterns of objects is known as "morphing the paradigms".

Unfortunately, like those magic 3D pictures which you sometimes get in magazines, not everybody is capable of morphing different paradigms in an object oriented environment. Even experienced programmers, who are used to structured programming, can sometimes have great difficulty in switching into this mind set (you'll hear them resolutely declaring that OOPS is an unnecessary complication, or, even worse, they will use object oriented programming features in structural programming ways).

A good way to visualize paradigms and morphing is to think of the logical networks covered in chapter 19 of the continuation of "Lingo Sorcery" (see the figs 19/16 and 19/17). If you look at the way a small change to the ancestor property of an object can "morph" the paradigm of the network between "X" and "Y" you will see how the network can be changed to represent one form (X) instead of another (Y).

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Figure 19/16 The block of cells changes its mind when new information arrives

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Figure 19/17 A special factor monitored by cell B causes the block of cells to change its mind again

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By observing how message changes can result in different paradigms (resultant states or patterns) for these simple networks you can get an idea of what "morphing the paradigms" is all about.

"How God Makes God" is also about similar conceptual frameworks where paradigms of behavior evolve as a result of morphing with patterns of emotions in a competitive software environment.

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