For some domains (notably WikiPedia:Interactive_fiction]) it's useful to be able to define and edit individual objects without the overhead of creating a class and instantiate it. This is called WikiPedia:Prototype_based programming. [http://www.python.org Python] is a cross-platform language which would be a good development platform for interactive fiction, except that it is class-based. One Python library, [http://www.firthworks.com/roger/cloak/paws/index.html PAWS], can be compared to other IF platforms at the [http://www.firthworks.com/roger/cloak/paws/index.html Cloak of Darkness] - comparing the source to the [http://www.firthworks.com/roger/cloak/hugo/index.html Hugo] source at the same site shows how combining object definitions and implementations makes for cleaner code in Hugo. Fortunately, Python is a very flexible language, and it's possible to fake prototype-orientation in several ways. If none of these are enough, Python could be used as the basis for a similar prototype-based language, as with Mark Hahn and Ben Collins' [http://www.prothon.org Prothon]. Before comparing implementations, it is useful to list some PrototypeEvaluationCriteria. Without further ado, here is a summary of possible approaches: - PrototypeClassWithMethodWrappers - PrototypeMetaclass - PrototypeLanguage **TODO** These are all stubs. They'll be filled in soon - promise! (Wow, did I ever blow that promise.)