Patent ID: 7421715

Claim:
A method for changing the binding of software objects to the program code that implements them, in accordance with a run-time object typing that is independent of a program code typing system, comprising: defining a correspondence between an object type and corresponding object generating program code, wherein said corresponding object generating program code generates object instances of said object type; maintaining said correspondence between said object type and said corresponding object generating program code independently from a pre-run time program code object hierarchy, wherein said correspondence is maintained within a mapping software construct, wherein said mapping software construct maps said corresponding object generating program code to said object type, wherein said mapping software construct is one of a plurality of mapping software constructs, and wherein said plurality of mapping software constructs are maintained within a lookup software construct, wherein said lookup software construct operates to determine said corresponding object generating program code responsive to said object type, and wherein said lookup software construct is one of a plurality of lookup software constructs; and selecting, at run-time, said corresponding object generating program code from among a plurality of alternative, run-time selectable object generating programs, wherein each of said plurality of run-time selectable object generating programs generates object instances of said object type, and wherein said selecting is initiated by activating said one of said plurality of lookup software constructs to operate to determine said corresponding object generating program code responsive to said object type.