The basic building block in Smalltalk development. An object is anything that exhibits behavior. All code and data in Smalltalk must be part of an object.

A nonvisual part capable of dynamically creating new instances of a specified part. For example, during the execution of an application, an object factory can create instances of a new class to collect the data being generated.

A programming methodology built around objects and based on sending messages back and forth between those objects. The basic concepts of object-oriented programming are encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.

A characteristic that enables objects to exist beyond the time in which their creating application runs. One use of object persistency is sharing objects among programmers in a development environment.

A Smalltalk tool for viewing the data of collections that are indexed but manage their elements indirectly using another collection. Two collection classes that use this inspector are OrderedCollection and SortedCollection.

The application to which a method in a class belongs. The owning application does not have to be the same application as the defining application. The owning application does not have to be the same for all methods of a class.