Patent ID: 7203689

Claim:
A memory accessible to an application program being executed on a data processing system, comprising: an object-oriented data structure stored in said memory, the data structure for encapsulating data used by the application program and including a base dictionary object implemented as a hashtable and being capable of storing value type data and container type data, said container type data being capable of storing said value type data and said container type data, said base dictionary object containing at least one datum of either said value type data or said container type data and having a name arranged in a table, said base dictionary object being chosen from a class of dictionary objects, said data being encapsulated by adding said at least one datum to an empty instance of said base dictionary object and, if said datum is of said value type data, storing said datum under a particular name in said base dictionary object and, if said datum is of said container type data, creating a new dictionary sub-object stored in, and accessible from, said base dictionary object under the particular name, said sub-object being capable of storing said value type data and said container type data; wherein additional data is configured to be dynamically added to said base dictionary object, said sub-object or an additional sub-object according to the type of data.