Method and system for processing a query

A system for processing a query in a distributed object system, comprising:

• a query processor operable to receive a query requesting at least one specific attribute of selected ones of a plurality of objects satisfying a query criteria, the query directed to a database containing state data for the plurality of objects, and
• generate a data structure in response to the query without retrieving an object satisfying the query criteria, the data structure comprising, for each object satisfying the query criteria, each specific attribute requested by the query and the identifier of the object, even if the identifier of the object was not requested as a specific attribute in the query.

An iterator, comprising:

• a first plurality of methods stored on a first computer readable storage medium, the first plurality of methods operable to iterate over a plurality of sequences contained in a data structure;
• a second plurality of methods stored on a second computer readable storage medium, the second plurality of methods operable to iterate over a plurality of objects associated with a plurality of object identifiers, wherein each sequence comprises an object identifier, wherein each method in the second plurality of method returns an object reference associated with one of the object identifiers.