Patent ID: 8719777

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising: reading a class definition for an object, the class definition for the object i) defining the object to possess an attribute, and ii) including a mapping of a set of executable behaviors to a set of values for the attribute such that, during runtime, when an executable behavior in the set of executable behaviors is invoked, selection of the process to be executed for the invoked executable behavior is dependent upon the value of the attribute; instantiating the object consistent with the class definition; and subsequent to instantiating the object consistent with the class definition and responsive to detecting a change in the value of the attribute storing a timestamp indicating the time at which the change was detected, the timestamp stored in association with the object such that an intrinsic history method can recall and display a time lapsed view of transitions that have occurred for the object.