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Charles Koffler
Charles Koffler

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Clprolf — Declensions Explained

#architecture #designpatterns #tutorial

Foundational Principles of Clprolf

Clprolf is based on two core principles:

  1. A class is either organized around a well-defined class domain or exists to provide technical support to other classes.
  2. Inheritance must preserve the class domain; otherwise, composition should be used.

These principles define how Clprolf structures components and relationships.

What Is a Class Domain?

A class domain is the central subject around which a class is organized.

It defines what the class fundamentally represents and what it is responsible for.

Examples:

  • Animal
  • File
  • Connection
  • Parser
  • JsonSerializer
  • RandomGenerator
  • Scheduler
  • Controller
  • PdfGenerator
  • PaymentService

Each of these classes is organized around a coherent subject.

A class domain does not need to be business-related.

It may represent:

  • a business concept,
  • a system concept,
  • a technical concept,
  • a scientific concept,
  • a simulation entity,
  • a service,
  • or any other coherent subject.

What Is a Declension?

A declension expresses the nature of a class.

Rather than treating every class as a generic object, Clprolf makes its role explicit.

The available declensions are:

  1. agent
  2. worker
  3. indef_obj

These roles are intentionally few in number to keep the model simple and easy to understand.

agent

An agent is a class organized around a clearly identifiable domain.

An agent represents something.

Its identity comes from the domain it models rather than from the technical operations it performs.

Examples:

Animal
File
Connection
Parser
JsonSerializer
Scheduler
Controller
PaymentService
InventoryService
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An agent may contain technical code when appropriate.

However, its primary identity always comes from its domain.

worker

A worker is a technical support class.

It exists primarily to help one or more agents perform technical operations.

A worker typically provides:

  • execution support,
  • operating-system interaction,
  • rendering,
  • launching,
  • infrastructure access,
  • platform-specific functionality.

Examples:

AnimalWorker
ApplicationLauncher
AgentLauncher
ProcessLauncher
SystemExecutor
OperatingSystemWorker
ControllerWorker
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Unlike an agent, a worker does not primarily represent a domain.

Its role is to provide technical support.

indef_obj

An indef_obj is an object whose nature has not yet been identified.

It behaves similarly to a traditional object-oriented class.

Typical use cases include:

  • prototyping,
  • exploratory development,
  • refactoring,
  • incremental migration to Clprolf.

Example:

public class_for indef_obj TemporaryManager {
}
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The role can be refined later into either agent or worker.

Inheritance Consistency

Clprolf encourages inheritance only when domain continuity exists.

Example:

Animal
  └─ Dog
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Both classes belong to the same conceptual domain.

Inheritance is therefore coherent.

However:

Dog
  └─ DatabaseConnection
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introduces a different domain.

Composition is generally preferred.

Clprolf uses this principle to help maintain coherent hierarchies.

Inheritance exceptions may still be forced through:

@Forced_inh
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when required.

Using Declensions

In pure Clprolf, the declension replaces the traditional class keyword.

Examples:

public class_for agent Animal {
}
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public class_for worker AnimalWorker {
}
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public class_for indef_obj TemporaryManager {
}
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The shorter syntax is also possible:

public agent Animal {
}
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Framework Usage

When using Clprolf as a framework, declensions are expressed through annotations.

@Agent
public class Animal {
}
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@Worker
public class AnimalWorker {
}
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@Indef_obj
public class TemporaryManager {
}
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Practical Guidelines

When a class clearly represents a coherent subject, it is usually an agent.

Examples:

File
Parser
Connection
Controller
Scheduler
PaymentService
Microservice
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When a class primarily exists to support, execute, launch, render, or technically assist another class, it is usually a worker.

Examples:

AnimalWorker
ControllerWorker
ApplicationLauncher
ProcessLauncher
OperatingSystemWorker
SystemExecutor
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Some situations may admit multiple interpretations.

Clprolf provides guidance, but the final architectural interpretation remains the developer's responsibility.

Summary

Declensions transform classes into explicit architectural components.

They make responsibilities visible and provide a common vocabulary for reasoning about systems.

agent     → represents a domain
worker    → supports a domain
indef_obj → undefined role
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By making these distinctions explicit, Clprolf helps maintain readable structures, coherent inheritance hierarchies, and long-term architectural clarity.

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