I've only just started using OOP, but isn't the issue of attribute storage structure completely orthogonal to whether the interface is procedural or object oriented? I mean, even if the data happens to be stored in an object, the programmer still has to worry about how it is stored, still has to bless *some* sort of data structure into object-dom, and if object attributes are stored internally as a hash, as is usually the case, this issue will still come up.

You mention inheritence, but inheritence affects only how methods are invoked and which methods are invoked, right? Again, it would seem methods are orthogonal to data.

Your response does sort-of address the issue by implying that the data structure should be flattened and any desired hierarchy managed by methods rather than the actual data structure, but you never come out and say that.

You also talk about "an object oriented approach" and "manipulating data structures" as though they are two different things. Given that *someone* has to design the object oriented data representation in the first place, I wonder what you mean.

Just curious. I honestly don't see how OOP applies here.

Respectfully,
RT