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"In all other languages we've considered [Fortran, Algol60, Lisp, APL, Cobol, Pascal], a program consists of passive data-objects on the one hand and the execut

"In all other languages we've considered [Fortran, Algol60, Lisp, APL, Cobol, Pascal], a program consists of passive data-objects on the one hand and the executable program that manipulates these passive objects on the other. Object-oriented programs replace this bipartite structure with a homogeneous one: they consist of a set of data systems, each of which is capable of operating on itself." - David Gelernter and Suresh J Jag (61 words)

nailer 18y ago
Yes, but the writing is poor. 'bipartite' and 'homogeneous'? Would you speak to your non-academic friends that way? If not, it's not going to successfully convey the message to a wide audience.
- yters 18y ago
  "two part structure" & "single structure?" Ups the word count to 62
  - nailer 18y ago
    You could convey the concept of OO better in simple terms and easily stay within the wordcount. Eg. "Programming by making things that can be interacted with in different ways"