Warp wrote:
> in order to add new modules to it (just register some base class
> type pointers at runtime).

Right. And using reflection, you wind up using the symbol table the 
compiler generated to do that registration, the mapping of the string 
"sphere" to the function create_Sphere(). Adding the "register a pointer 
at runtime" is overhead that's unnecessary in many languages that have 
reflection. And it becomes even more important when you start working 
with things like libraries to serialize arbitrary structures, rather 
than just invoking a function with a known signature. I wrote a 
transaction processing system once where adding a new transaction 
consisted of putting the file with the implementation of the transaction 
in the executing directory. Didn't even need to restart the server, nor 
did I actually write any extra code to manage that.

(Since this is now nothing to do with POV-Ray, I've set the followup.)

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     New horror show, now only in Las Vegas:
        HANNIBAL LUXOR!

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