Datablocks

#1 Datablocks simply store common static data for objects of which there may be multiple instances of in any give mission.

#2 Datablocks hold data that you plug into an object when you create it.

eg, I have a datablock for a projectile,

datablock ProjectileData(MyProjectile){
    ... a bunch of variables describing this type of projectile
    such as the model to use, the velocity, damage, etc
}

They basically describe the 'type' of object you are creating, ie the type of projectile. It is still a projectile and uses the same code as every other projectile, but the actual variable values are different.

eg to make a projectile I do

new Projectile(){
    dataBlock = MyProjectile; //This tells the engine to load in all the variables defined in the MyProjectile datablock
    .... other variables such as position etc
}

Well, thats my understanding of it, I could be wrong.

Hope that helps ;)

#3 Let me see if I understand this correctly. Datablocks are totally seperate from classes. They are basically object descriptions that can be attached to instances of a class. This is a sort of different to initialize objects with unique characteristics as opposed to deriving a new class for every slightly different object. Am I understanding this correctly? Also, are there any other commonly used programming languages that use a similar concept?

Thanks for the help so far.