>>...I go one or two steps further: no PRIVATE variables and no PUBLIC properties either, any changes
>>in the state of an object should be accomplished by sending a message to it, never by assigning a
>>value to a property (which should be protected anyways, or even hidden).
>
>
>Within the confines of the limited power of the Visual FoxPro debugger, such constraints may be valid. In a modern full-featured language and debugger, such constraints are no longer required.
>
>It should've been the goal of Microsoft all along that the developer is in control, not held back by artificially imposed limitations.


What I said has nothing to do with the power of VFP, neither with MS, it comes directly from the way I learnt OO programing using Smalltalk, by far my favourite language, more than 2 decades ago, so what you say about a modern full-featured language an debugger might be true, but you did not explained much and "a priory" I cannot see it like you. at all. not in the slightest bit.