{ "model": { "rank": 17271, "code": "thing-q815844", "model_id": "vr.tr.method", "name": "method", "purpose": "Let an agent explain the programming method, relay its role and kinds from computer-science sources, describe the kinds its aliases name, and distinguish a method from a plain function and from a field.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QLT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q815844/", "tier": 2, "score": 31, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "constructor", "abstract method", "class method", "accessor method", "Java method", "finalizer", "mutator method", "extension method", "chain loading", "JavaScript method", "destructor", "special member function", "copy constructor", "move constructor", "default constructor", "nullary constructor" ], "aliasCount": 16, "merged": 16, "knownIn": 31, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.method", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q815844", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q815844", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-14T04:01:23Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q815844", "registryId": "vr.tr.method", "name": "method", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QLT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q815844/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.method", "name": "method", "purpose": "Let an agent explain the programming method, relay its role and kinds from computer-science sources, describe the kinds its aliases name, and distinguish a method from a plain function and from a field.", "definition": "In object-oriented programming, a method is a subroutine, a block of code, that belongs to a class or object and defines a behaviour it can perform, often acting on the object s data; the registry aliases name kinds such as constructors, class methods, accessor methods and abstract methods. A method is how objects do things, distinct from a field that holds data, and it is a core part of object-oriented design.", "what_it_is_for": "Defining a behaviour of a class or object.", "affordances": [ "explain the concept", "relay its role and kinds", "describe named kinds", "distinguish it from a function and a field" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Bound to a class or object", "Defines behaviour", "Several kinds", "Core to object orientation" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; a named block of code attached to a class or object.", "visual_identification": [ "A subroutine belonging to a class or object", "Constructor, class method, accessor method, abstract method", "A plain function is not bound to an object; a field holds data rather than behaviour" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "belongs to", "typical_range": "a class or object", "unit": "note", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "nature", "typical_range": "subroutine", "unit": "note", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "registry parents", "typical_range": "attribute of a class, subroutine", "unit": "note", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "instance method", "class method", "constructor", "abstract method" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "subroutine", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "plain function", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "field", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is part of", "target": "a class", "why": "" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Programming language semantics" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Confusing a method with a plain function", "Confusing a method with a field", "Conflating method kinds" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a method is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a method, and how does it differ from a plain function and a field?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about a specific kind such as a constructor?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "kinds", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Named kinds.", "findings": [ { "id": "kinds-finding", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are instance methods, class methods and constructors?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific kind?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "role", "name": "Role", "description": "Role.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "behaviour", "name": "Behaviour", "description": "Behaviour.", "findings": [ { "id": "behaviour-finding", "name": "Behaviour", "description": "Behaviour.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does a method define an object s behaviour?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "data", "name": "Data", "description": "Acting on data.", "findings": [ { "id": "data-finding", "name": "Data", "description": "Data.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does a method act on an object s data?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "design", "name": "Design", "description": "Design.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "oop", "name": "OOP", "description": "Object orientation.", "findings": [ { "id": "oop-finding", "name": "OOP", "description": "OOP.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why are methods central to object-oriented design?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "signatures", "name": "Signatures", "description": "Signatures.", "findings": [ { "id": "signatures-finding", "name": "Signatures", "description": "Signatures.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a method signature and how is it called?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Context.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "function", "name": "Function", "description": "Functions.", "findings": [ { "id": "function-finding", "name": "Function", "description": "Function.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does a method relate to the general idea of a subroutine?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits subroutine?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "fields", "name": "Fields", "description": "Fields.", "findings": [ { "id": "fields-finding", "name": "Fields", "description": "Fields.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do methods and fields together make up a class?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the sense correctly identified?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should method kinds be separate entries?", "How should the class relation be shown?", "How should the function contrast be explained?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a method, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain the programming method, relay its role and kinds from computer-science sources, describe the kinds its aliases name, and distinguish a method from a plain function and from a field.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: constructor, abstract method, class method, accessor method, Java method, finalizer, mutator method, extension method, chain loading, JavaScript method, destructor, special member function.", "16 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 31 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a method, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "constructor", "abstract method", "class method", "accessor method", "Java method", "finalizer", "mutator method", "extension method", "chain loading", "JavaScript method", "destructor", "special member function" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 31 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 16 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one method from another, and a method from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a method, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a method, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a method is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a method, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a method, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a method is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a method sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a method, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a method, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a method is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a method from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a method, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a method, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a method is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a method passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a method between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a method, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a method, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a method is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a method, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a method is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a method, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a method, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a method is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What method is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of method are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is method operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of method and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of method?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as method?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a method came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a method and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a method, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a method, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a method is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a method is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a method, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a method, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a method is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }