More points:

• Properties are deallocated automatically when an object is deallocated.

• A copy of an object inherits the identical set of properties.

  dt_Handle atoms, atom, otheratom;
        
  atoms = dt_stream(ob, TYP_ATOM);
  while (NULL_OB != (atom = dt_next(atoms)))
    dt_sethandle(atom, 9, "otheratom", atom);
  dt_dealloc(atoms);
        
  newob = dt_copy(ob);
  atoms = dt_stream(newob, TYP_ATOM);
  while (NULL_OB != (atom = dt_next(atoms)))
    {
      origatom = dt_handle(atom, 9, "otheratom");
      dt_sethandle(origatom, 9, "otheratom", atom);
    }
  dt_dealloc(atoms);
  

Efficiency Notes (for compulsive cycle-counters):

• Internally, properties are implemented as a linked list attached to each object. They *will* get slow as the number of named properties gets large. Of course we may change this in the future without affecting the interface.

• Shorter property names are better. They require less space, and less time to look up and compare in the list.

• Although not necessary, one can effectively delete a property and reclaim the space (21 bytes + len(name) + len(value)) by settings its string value to invalid string.

  dt_setstring(ob, nlen, name, 0, NULL);

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