1. An architecture for a control system, comprising: a plurality of control devices each of which devices includes: (a) a set of software objects that implement different types of internal functions for the device including one or more functions having standardized function identifiers that are shared in common with other software objects of the same type on the different devices across said system, (b) a software application program including instructions comprising standardized function calls based on said standardized identifiers to the functions within said software objects for engaging said internal functions and thereby defining the operation of the device, and (c) an execution engine for running said application program; whereby a common interface is provided to internal functions within control devices across all devices in said system.