On May 8, 2005, at 5:57 PM, David A. Black wrote:
> I don't like "shadow" for this.  Shadow suggests, to me, a light
> source, an object, and a shadow.  I can't see how that maps onto this.
> It just feels all wrong spatially.

I like it for sort of the same reason - the instance has a 'shadow'  
of itself. Like the shadowed password file. It is part of itself, and  
yet it is not.

That a shadow is insubstantial is also beneficial to the mental  
model, as IIRC a 'singleton class' is sort of empty/non-existent  
until asked for and filled out.

Shadow (be it 'shadow class' or 'shadow object') is the term which  
best seems to be clear of collision confusion (unlike 'singleton' or  
'abstract' or 'instance') and yet still (IMO) carry a bit of the  
mental model along with it.




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