Abstract: An extension to the JVM is described by which the efficiency with which applications are developed and transmitted between platforms is vastly improved. The present invention imposes a new object model on the Java object model provided intrinsically by the Java programming language. The object model of the present invention separates attribute data from an object which would otherwise be encapsulated therein. This data represents the external interface of a particular instance of the object class. The internal interface of the object class, i.e., the behavior common to all instances of a particular object type, is stored separately in an object type information file.

Abstract: A data structure and method are disclosed for transferring object attributes between platforms in a distributed computing environment. The method includes creating an application description file. The application description file includes a type ID and an object name. The type ID references a type information file. The application file includes an attribute data block and the attribute data block contains data for attributes that are included in the object. The attribute description file is transferred to a platform that includes the type information file and the type information file includes a memory offset map that determines a sequence of attribute data storage in the attribute data block. Thus, the object attributes are received by the platform and the type information file provides a memory offset map for individual attributes in the attribute description file.