Not sure what to make of this:

USPTO Application #: 20080222602
Title: Declarative object identity using relation types
Abstract: The present invention provides a programming model based on
a relational view of the heap which defines identity declaratively,
obviating the need for equals( ) and hashcode( ) methods. Each element
in the heap (called a tuple) belongs to a relation type and relates an
immutable identity to mutable state. The model entails a stricter
contract: identity never changes during an execution. Objects, values,
and singletons arise as special cases of tuples. (end of abstract)

http://www.freshpatents.com/Declarat...0080222602.php

On Sep 4, 8:59*am, Nilone <rea... (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

This is an interesting paper in terms of solutions for OOP. However,
and especially related to “immutable identity to mutable state”, one
can find a more extensive theoretical approach on my website www.dbdesign10..com.
This website, posted in 2005 and at the same time presented to this
user group, gives broader and effective solutions based on general
data structures. It also introduces a new semantic related to
entities, relationships, their changes and identification.
On www.dbdesign11.com I presented a theoretical and practical solution
for identifying individuals and their states. Briefly, in this
solution one first determines a defined plurality of individuals and
then from this plurality, one identifies a certain individual. See
section 5 in this paper. Also see (3.3.3) in this paper.

Vladimir Odrljin