Object building method for self configuring computer network

A method of operating a computer system including a first processor and a plurality of removable interface circuits, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) storing in a data base accessible by the first processor a plurality of hardware descriptors each of which includes a separate identifier for each of said interface circuits that can be plugged into said computer system, and also storing in said data base a plurality of component lists each corresponding to a separate one of said plurality of interface circuits and each including a name and at least one attribute of each component of that interface circuit, and also storing in said data base a plurality of software templates each including descriptions of data structures for containing data descriptive of various ones of said components, data to be entered into said data structures, names of code elements to be included in a siftware object to be built representing a particular one of said interface circuits, and pointers to code to be executed to build such software objects;
• (b) obtaining a first one of said hardware descriptors, corresponding to a first one of said interface circuits, from said date base;
• (c) using said first hardware descriptor to obtain from said data base a first one of said lists of components of said first interface circuit;
• (d) using the name of a first one of the components of said first component list to obtain from said data base a first one of said software templates corresponding to a first one of the components of said first interface circuit;
• (e) using said first software template to build a first software object that represents at least one function that can be performed by said first component;
• (f) assigning a first object name to said first software object and entering said first object name and said first software object into said data base;
• and
• (g) using said first object name, during execution of a user process, to obtain said first software object from said data base and operating upon said first software object to measure a signal produced by said first component or to apply a signal to a terminal of said first component.