Not grokking models, please help

[eluser]titoneo[/eluser]
I understand you, why a Model class can by a model itself (value object) and a handler objects class of their own kind?

Well, Models in codeigniter are based in Active Record pattern (they say it is a modification), and this pattern does things like that you have mentioned. I think that Active Record can't be called ORM , really is a wrapper on the database with an object-oriented touch. That is why you think you have somewhat 'merged' or 'mixed'.

I've worked with JPA in Java and uses objects as a model and then to handle other classes (ex: User modeling and UserJPA as the handler). Maybe something like what you want.

There are other languages like Ruby on Rails that have made use of this pattern,I think it's a pattern that should not reside in very large applications, but it helps a lot in small and medium-sized applications.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_record_pattern
http://guides.rubyonrails.org/active_rec...rying.html