Method for providing stand-in objects

A method of deferring creation of an object in an object oriented programming environment comprising:

• defining a fault object class;
• assigning a second object to said fault object class;
• sending a message to said second object via a first object;
• testing whether said second object can respond to said message, and if not, executing the steps of:
• fetching data from a database and loading said data into said second reassigning said second object to an actual class;
• and,
• responding to said message by invoking a method in said actual class.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code, prepared using an object-oriented programming environment, for delaying resolution of relationships between a first object and a second object, said computer readable program code configured to cause a computer to:
• identify the relationship between a first object and a second object;
• create a first fault object of a fault object class to stand in for said second object;
• and
• create additional fault objects of said fault object class to stand in for other objects that have a relationship to said first object.

A method of deferring instantiation of an object in an object-oriented programming environment comprising:

• creating a class definition for a first object;
• instantiating a fault object as a place holder for said first object;
• and
• instantiating said first object in place of said fault object using said class definition.