1. A digital data processing device that executes programming that configures that device as an apparatus for use with a control system or a system controlled thereby, the apparatus comprising: an object instantiated in a program that executes on the digital data processing device, the object representing one or more entities in any of the control system or the system controlled thereby, the object having an appearance parameter identifying one or more aspects of an appearance of the object in a view (i) in which that object may be depicted and (ii) which includes one or more live data values for one or more other parameters associated with the object, and at least one of those other parameters including any of a formula, mathematical operation, mathematical statement, and function (collectively, “formula”) that executes on the digital data processing device as part of the object, wherein the object inherits its appearance parameter from an ancestor object.