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Inheritance using PODs

Overview

Inheritance in object-oriented hardware is a relatively new idea. We are looking into ways to create larger and more complex POD systems using the object-oriented construct of inheritance. This will offer programmers the ability to extend any given POD with another POD creating a new composite POD that inherits all the base class's properties and adds new capabilites.

One example of this is a thermostat. A basic thermostat consists of a thermometer, a switch, a dial, and a display. If we think of a thermostat 'extending' a thermometer, we now have a much more useful device. The thermostat POD, in addition to the ability to read the temperature, we can set a limit on the temperature using the dial, have the thermostat close the switch when the temperature exceeds our limit, and provide useful user feedback on the display. And it would be simple to add other features such as a clock that could cause the thermostat to close the switch at a certain time.

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