- bundle attributes into groups which are presented along with a set of
helper functions--this can be done in Doxygen easily
- using a string which internally merges its representation (see the web
page)
- get and set values for the attributes through the Particle, rather
than through the attribute table
This approach is completely flexible. Users are encouraged to use the
helper functions since they are bundled up with the attribute names
themselves. Getting an attribute involves a search through a list of
integers before fetching it from the table--so not as good as the
objects case, but not horrible either and I'll bet we can make the
compiler build it to something that is the same as the current Index
based version via inlining. There are no changes to IO or the XML or the
web stuff. Restraints have to get rid of XIndex classes.