In Objects as Modules in Newspeak, Gilad Bracha et al. describe a way to avoid the coupling in inherent constructs found in many OO languages such as a global namespace, "static" stateful variables, globally accessible object constructors, etc.
We describe support for modularity in Newspeak, a new programming language descended from Smalltalk and Self. Like Self, all computation â€” even an objectâ€™s own access to its internal structure â€” is performed by invoking methods on objects. However, like Smalltalk, Newspeak is class-based. Classes can be nested arbitrarily, as in Beta. Since all names denote method invocations, all classes are virtual; in particular, superclasses are virtual, so all classes act as mixins. Unlike its predecessors, there is no static state in Newspeak, nor is there a global namespace. Top level classes act as module deï¬nitions, which are independent, immutable, self-contained parametric namespaces. They can be instantiated into modules which may be stateful and mutually recursive. Naturally, like its predecessors, Newspeak is reï¬‚ective: a mirror library allows structured access to the program meta-level.
There's a lot in here that should be of interest to LtUers interested in object capability based security.