All of the values you work with in MAX each have a well-defined type, like integer or matrix or twist modifier, etc. The 'type' of a value is also known as its class, following the convention of modern object-oriented languages. MAXScript is internally object-oriented - all the built-in classes are arranged in an inheritance hierarchy and most of the built-in functions are polymorphic, terms we'll explore below. You cannot, however, create new classes in MAXScript and the functions you can script are not polymorphic. This may change in later versions of the scripter, but it is an advanced refinement that is not really necessary in an application scripting language, where the most important abstractions - the features of the host application - are already built-in.