Integra Glossary

This document defines the terminology used by the Integra project:

General

class: classes are used to define interfaces. The function of these interfaces varies depending on the context in which they are used. In the database, the class definition defines tables for storing instance data; in the Integra library class definitions are used to instantiate and manage instances in a target environment.
module: Integra modules are a subset of Integra classes. Modules define interfaces that are specific to audio processing.

attribute: this describes a component of the interface defined by a class, this loosely encompasses both variables and methods.
aggregated class: An aggregated class is a class that appears as an attribute of another class. For example a TX816 module contains 8 DX7 modules by aggregation.
instance: an instance of a class implements all of the methods and data storage for the class. Instance methods implemented in the class implementation, instance variables are stored separately for each instance. This allows for persistent storage of instance state.
instantiable: This is a flag in the class definition that determines whether or not a class is instantiable. Some classes are used only for inheritance and it is not logical for these to be made into instances.
abstract: In a sense all Integra classes are abstract, in that they don't provide any method implementations. Instead they provide references to method implementations, and these are used when the class gets instantiated.
final: this is a flag in the class definition that determines whether or not a class can have any child classes.

attribute: in an instance of a class, an attribute is used to hold a value that represents the current state of that attribute
port: ports are used to create connections between attributes, i.e. a value 'x' sent from 'port a' to 'port b' sets the value of port b to 'x'
collection: the collection construct describes one or more class instances and the connections between the instance ports