DMCA
Managing the Evolution of Object-Oriented Systems (1994)
| Citations: | 14 - 1 self |
BibTeX
@TECHREPORT{Bergstein94managingthe,
author = {Paul L. Bergstein},
title = {Managing the Evolution of Object-Oriented Systems},
institution = {},
year = {1994}
}
Share
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
OpenURL
Abstract
ii Class organizations (schemas) evolve over the life cycle of object-oriented systems for avariety of reasons. This issue has recently been a subject of increasing attention in the literature of both object-oriented languages and object-oriented database systems. One of the most common forms of evolution involves the extension of an existing system by addition of new classes of objects or the addition of attributes to the original objects. Sometimes class structures are reorganized even when the set of objects is unchanged. In this case the reorganization might represent an optimization of the system, or just a change in the users ' perspective. At the other extreme, a class reorganization might re ect not only the extension and reclassi cation of existing objects, but also structural changes (other than addition of attributes) in the original objects. This work provides a mathematical treatment of a calculus of class transformations. Three kinds of transformations that commonly occur in the evolution of class structures are considered: object-extending, object-preserving, and language-preserving. For each kind of transformation, methods for automating the maintenance of systems based on the evolving class structure are discussed. The language-preserving transformations are a special case of transformations that change the structure of existing objects. If an object schema is decorated with concrete syntax, it de nes not only a class structure, but also a language for describing the objects. When two schemas de ne the same language but di erent classes, the language may be used to guide the discovery of analogies between the classes. The resulting analogies may then be used to transport functionality between domains. iii Acknowledgments Iwould like to thank my advisor, Karl Lieberherr, for his generous support, guidance, and feedback. I would also like to thank my wife, Vickie, for her constant encouragement and understanding without which thiswork would not have been possible. iv
Keyphrases
class structure object-oriented system original object generous support class reorganization structural change new class object-oriented database system special case language-preserving transformation mathematical treatment object-oriented language object schema class transformation ii class organization constant encouragement common form iii acknowledgment di erent class karl lieberherr life cycle concrete syntax reclassi cation
