Class Functions

  Declaring a class with the CREATE CLASS command causes a Clipper
  function to be created. This function has the same name as the class and
  is called a class function. Calling a class function returns the
  class object for that class. The class function is most often used
  when creating new objects (see next section). Class functions can also be
  used to access class variables and class methods. Here are some examples
  of different ways to use class functions:

    oCust := Customer():new( 5, 10, 15, 70 )
    ? Window():nWinCount
    Window():closeAll()

  The first line creates a new object of class Customer by sending the
  new() message to the Customer class. The second line accesses a class
  variable called nWinCount in the Window class. The third line sends
  the closeAll() message to the Window class. In all of these cases, a
  class function is called to obtain a reference to a class object.

  Terminology Note

  For most purposes, the terms class and class object are
  interchangeable. The class object is the class. For example, we said above
  "The third line sends the closeAll() message to the Window class". We
  could have added the word object onto the end of that sentence, but it
  would be redundant. There is no way to send a message to a class other
  than via a class object.