Object-Oriented Software Engineering

Conquering Complex and Changing Systems

Chapter 7,
Object Design
Exercise 6.4

6.4 Consider a legacy, fax-based, problem-reporting system for

an aircraft manufacturer. You are part of a reengineering
project replacing the core of the system by a computer-based
system, which includes a database and a notification system.
The client requires the fax to remain an entry point for
problem reports. You propose an E-mail entry point.

Describe a subsystem decomposition, and possibly a design

pattern, which would allow both interfaces.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 2
Possible solution for exercise 6.4

EmailFrontEnd FaxFrontEnd

ProblemReporting

StorageSubsystem NotificationSubsystem

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 3
Exercise 6.5

6.5 You are designing the access control policies for a Web-
based retail store:
w Customers access the store via the Web, browse product
information, input their address and payment information, and
purchase products.
w Suppliers can add new products, update product information,
and receive orders.
w The store owner sets the retail prices, makes tailored offers to
customers based on their purchasing profiles, and provides
marketing services.
You have to deal with three actors: StoreAdministrator,
Supplier, and Customer. Design an access control policy for
all three actors. Customers can be created via the Web,
whereas Suppliers are created by the StoreAdministrator.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 4
Possible solution for exercise 6.5

Product CustomerInfo SupplierInfo Order

Anonymous GetInfo() Create()
Customer GetInfo() UpdateInfo() Create()
GetPrice()
Supplier Create() UpdateInfo() Process()
GetInfo()
UpdateInfo()
StoreAdministrator UpdatePrice() VerifyInfo() Create() Examine()

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 5
Object Design

♦ Object design is the process of adding details to the

requirements analysis and making implementation decisions
♦ The object designer must choose among different ways to
implement the analysis model with the goal to minimize
execution time, memory and other measures of cost.
♦ Requirements Analysis: Use cases, functional and dynamic
model deliver operations for object model
♦ Object Design: We iterate on where to put these operations in
the object model
♦ Object Design serves as the basis of implementation
♦ 4-Tier Architecture

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 6
 A2: Application Server A1: Application Server

State Profil
State Profil
State Profil
State Profil
State Profil
State

Database Server
(Database Framework)

HTTP

Web Browser Web Server

(UI Framework)
Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 7
Reengineering Terminology
♦ Reverse Engineering:
w Discovery (or Recovery) of an object model from the code.
♦ Forward Engineering:
w Automatic generation of code from an object model
w Requirements Engineering, Requirements Analysis, System Design, Object
Design, Implementation, Testing, Delivery
♦ Discipline:
w Always change the object model, then generate code (for sure do this when
you change the interface of a public method/class.)
t Generate code under time pressure
– Patch the code!
♦ Roundtrip Engineering
w Forward Engineering + reverse engineering
w Inventory analysis: Determine the Delta between OM and Code
w Together-J and Rationale have tools for reverse engineering
♦ Reengineering (Project Management Issue):
w New functionality (customer dreams up new stuff)
w New technology (technology enablers)
Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 8
Object Design: Closing the Gap
System
Problem

Application objects

Requir ements gap

Solution objects

Custom objects

Object design gap

Off-the-shelf components

System design gap

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit

Machine
Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 9
 Object Design Issues

♦ Full definition of associations

♦ Full definition of classes (System Design: Service, Object
Design: API)
♦ Specify the contract for each component
♦ Choice of algorithms and data structures
♦ Detection of new application-domain independent classes
(example: Cache)
♦ Optimization
♦ Increase of inheritance
♦ Decision on control
♦ Packaging

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 10
Terminology of Activities
♦ Object-Oriented Methodologies
w System Design
t Decomposition into subsystems
w Object Design
t Implementation language chosen
t Data structures and algorithms chosen
♦ SA/SD (structured analysis/structured design) uses different
terminology:
w Preliminary Design
t Decomposition into subsystems
t Data structures are chosen
w Detailed Design
t Algorithms are chosen
t Data structures are refined
t Implementation language is chosen
t Typically in parallel with preliminary design, not separate stage
Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 11
Object Design Activities

1. Service specification
w Describes precisely each class interface
2. Component selection
w Identify off-the-shelf components and additional solution objects
3. Object model restructuring
w Transforms the object design model to improve its
understandability and extensibility
4. Object model optimization
w How to address nonfunctional requirements
w Transforms the object design model to address performance criteria
such as response time or memory utilization.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 12
Service Specification

♦ Requirements analysis
w Identifies attributes and operations without specifying their types or
their parameters.
♦ Object design
w Add visibility information
w Add type signature information
w Add contracts (Bertrand Meyer, Eiffel)

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 13
Add Visibility

UML defines three levels of visibility:

♦ Private:
w A private attribute can be accessed only by the class in which it is
defined.
w A private operation can be invoked only by the class in which it is
defined.
w Private attributes and operations cannot be accessed by subclasses
or other classes.
♦ Protected:
w A protected attribute or operation can be accessed by the class in
which it is defined and on any descendent of the class.
♦ Public:
w A public attribute or operation can be accessed by any class.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 14
Information Hiding Heuristics

♦ Build firewalls around classes

w Carefully define public interfaces for classes as well as subsystems
w Never, never, never make attributes public
♦ Apply “Need to know” principle. The fewer an operation
knows
w the less likely it will be affected by any changes
w the easier the class can be changed
♦ Trade-off
w Information hiding vs efficiency

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 15
Information Hiding Design Principles

♦ Only the operations of a class are allowed to manipulate its

attributes
w Access attributes only via operations.
♦ Hide external objects at subsystem boundary
w Define abstract class interfaces which mediate between system and
external world as well as between subsystems
♦ Do not apply an operation to the result of another operation.
w Write a new operation that combines the two operations.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 16
Add Type Signature Information

Hashtable
-numElements:int
+put()
+get()
+remove()
+containsKey()
+size()

Hashtable
-numElements:int
+put(key:Object,entry:Object)
+get(key:Object):Object
+remove(key:Object)
+containsKey(key:Object):boolean
+size():int

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 17
Contracts

♦ Contracts on a class enable caller and callee to share the same

assumptions about the class.
♦ Contracts include three types of constraints:
w Invariant: A predicate that is always true for all instances of a class.
Invariants are constraints associated with classes or interfaces.
Invariants are used to specify consistency constraints among class
attributes.
w Precondition: A predicate that must be true before an operation is
invoked. Preconditions are associated with a specific operation.
Preconditions are used to specify constraints that a caller must meet
before calling an operation.
w Postcondition: A predicate that must be true after an operation is
invoked. Postconditions are associated with a specific operation.
Postconditions are used to specify constraints that the object must
ensure after the invocation of the operation.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 18
Expressing constraints in UML
♦ OCL (Object Constraint Language)
w OCL allows constraints to be formally specified on single model
elements or groups of model elements
w A constraint is expressed as an OCL expression returning the value
true or false. OCL is not a procedural language (cannot constrain
control flow).
♦ OCL expressions for Hashtable operation put():
w Invariant:
Context is a class OCL expression
t context Hashtable inv: numElements
operation >= 0

w Precondition:
t context Hashtable::put(key, entry) pre:!containsKey(key)

w Post-condition:
t context Hashtable::put(key, entry) post: containsKey(key) and
get(key) = entry

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 19
Expressing Constraints in UML

♦ A constraint can also be depicted as a note attached to the

constrained UML element by a dependency relationship.
<<invariant>>
numElements >= 0
HashTable
<<precondition>> numElements:int <<postcondition>>
!containsKey(key) get(key) == entry
put(key,entry:Object)
<<precondition>> get(key):Object
containsKey(key) remove(key:Object)
containsKey(key:Object):boolean
<<precondition>> size():int <<postcondition>>
containsKey(key) !containsKey(key)

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 20
Object Design Areas

1. Service specification
w Describes precisely each class interface
2. Component selection
w Identify off-the-shelf components and additional solution objects
3. Object model restructuring
w Transforms the object design model to improve its
understandability and extensibility
4. Object model optimization
w Transforms the object design model to address performance criteria
such as response time or memory utilization.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 21
Component Selection

♦ Select existing off-the-shelf class libraries, frameworks or

components
♦ Adjust the class libraries, framework or components
w Change the API if you have the source code.
w Use the adapter or bridge pattern if you don’t have access

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 22
Reuse...

♦ Look for existing classes in class libraries

w JSAPI, JTAPI, ....
♦ Select data structures appropriate to the algorithms
w Container classes
w Arrays, lists, queues, stacks, sets, trees, ...
♦ Define new internal classes and operations only if necessary
w Complex operations defined in terms of lower-level operations
might need new classes and operations

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 23
Object Design Areas

1. Service specification
w Describes precisely each class interface
2. Component selection
w Identify off-the-shelf components and additional solution objects
w Use the bridge pattern if the off-the-shelf component comes late
t Use a quick and dirty implementation first
3. Object model restructuring
w Transforms the object design model to improve its
understandability and extensibility
4. Object model optimization
w Transforms the object design model to address performance criteria
such as response time or memory utilization.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 24
Restructuring Activities

♦ Realizing associations
♦ Revisiting inheritance to increase reuse
♦ Revising inheritance to remove implementation dependencies

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 25
 Realizing Associations
♦ Strategy for implementing associations:
w Be as uniform as possible
w Individual decision for each association
♦ Example of uniform implementation
w 1-to-1 association:
t Role names are treated like attributes in the classes and translate to
references
w 1-to-many association:
t "Ordered many" : Translate to Vector
t "Unordered many" : Translate to Set
w Qualified association:
t Translate to Hash table

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 26
 Unidirectional 1-to-1 Association

Object design model before transformation

ZoomInAction MapArea

Object design model after transformation

ZoomInAction MapArea
-zoomIn:ZoomInAction
+getZoomInAction()
+setZoomInAction(action)

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 27
 Bidirectional 1-to-1 Association

Object design model before transformation

ZoomInAction MapArea
1 1

Object design model after transformation

ZoomInAction MapArea
-targetMap:MapArea -zoomIn:ZoomInAction
+getTargetMap() +getZoomInAction()
+setTargetMap(map) +setZoomInAction(action)

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 28
 1-to-Many Association

Object design model before transformation

Layer LayerElement
1 *

Object design model after transformation

Layer LayerElement
-layerElements:Set -containedIn:Layer
+elements() +getLayer()
+addElement(le) +setLayer(l)
+removeElement(le)

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 29
Qualification

Object design model before transformation

* 0..1
Scenario simname SimulationRun

Object design model after transformation

Scenario SimulationRun
-runs:Hashtable -scenarios:Vector
+elements() +elements()
+addRun(simname,sr:SimulationRun) +addScenario(s:Scenario)
+removeRun(simname,sr:SimulationRun) +removeScenario(s:Scenario)

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 30
Increase Inheritance

♦ Rearrange and adjust classes and operations to prepare for

inheritance
♦ Abstract common behavior out of groups of classes
w If a set of operations or attributes are repeated in 2 classes the
classes might be special instances of a more general class.
♦ Be prepared to change a subsystem (collection of classes) into a
superclass in an inheritance hierarchy.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 31
Building a super class from several classes1/11/01
♦ Prepare for inheritance. All operations must have the same
signature but often the signatures do not match:
w Some operations have fewer arguments than others: Use
overloading (Possible in Java)
w Similar attributes in the classes have different names: Rename
attribute and change all the operations.
w Operations defined in one class but no in the other: Use virtual
functions and class function overriding.
♦ Abstract out the common behavior (set of operations with same
signature) and create a superclass out of it.
♦ Superclasses are desirable. They
w increase modularity, extensibility and reusability
w improve configuration management
♦ Turn the superclass into an abstract interface if possible
w Use Bridge pattern
Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 32
Object Design Areas

1. Service specification
w Describes precisely each class interface
2. Component selection
w Identify off-the-shelf components and additional solution objects
3. Object model restructuring
w Transforms the object design model to improve its
understandability and extensibility
4. Object model optimization
w Transforms the object design model to address performance criteria
such as response time or memory utilization.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 33
Design Optimizations

♦ Design optimizations are an important part of the object design

phase:
w The requirements analysis model is semantically correct but often
too inefficient if directly implemented.
♦ Optimization activities during object design:
1. Add redundant associations to minimize access cost
2. Rearrange computations for greater efficiency
3. Store derived attributes to save computation time
♦ As an object designer you must strike a balance between
efficiency and clarity.
w Optimizations will make your models more obscure

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 34
Design Optimization Activities
1. Add redundant associations:
w What are the most frequent operations? ( Sensor data lookup?)
w How often is the operation called? (30 times a month, every 50
milliseconds)
2. Rearrange execution order
w Eliminate dead paths as early as possible (Use knowledge of
distributions, frequency of path traversals)
w Narrow search as soon as possible
w Check if execution order of loop should be reversed
3. Turn classes into attributes

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 35
Implement Application domain classes
♦ To collapse or not collapse: Attribute or association?
♦ Object design choices:
w Implement entity as embedded attribute
w Implement entity as separate class with associations to other
classes
♦ Associations are more flexible than attributes but often
introduce unnecessary indirection.
♦ Abbott's textual analysis rules
♦ Every student receives an immatriculationnumber at the first
day in TUM.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 36
Optimization Activities: Collapsing Objects

Matrikelnumber
Student ID:String

Student
Matrikelnumber:String

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 37
To Collapse or not to Collapse?

♦ Collapse a class into an attribute if the only operations defined

on the attributes are Set() and Get().

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 38
Design Optimizations (continued)

Store derived attributes

w Example: Define new classes to store information locally (database
cache)
♦ Problem with derived attributes:
w Derived attributes must be updated when base values change.
w There are 3 ways to deal with the update problem:
t Explicit code: Implementor determines affected derived attributes
(push)
t Periodic computation: Recompute derived attribute occasionally (pull)
t Active value: An attribute can designate set of dependent values which
are automatically updated when active value is changed (notification,
data trigger)

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 39
Optimization Activities: Delaying Complex
Computations Image
filename:String
data:byte[]
width()
height()
paint()

Image
filename:String
width()
height()
paint()

image
ImageProxy RealImage
1 0..1
filename:String data:byte[]
width() width()
height() height()
paint() paint()

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 40
 Documenting the Object Design: The Object Design
Document (ODD)
♦ Object design document
w Same as RAD +...
w … + additions to object, functional and dynamic models (from solution
domain)
w … + Navigational map for object model
w … + Javadoc documentation for all classes
♦ ODD Management issues
w Update the RAD models in the RAD?
w Should the ODD be a separate document?
w Who is the target audience for these documents (Customer, developer?)
w If time is short: Focus on the Navigational Map and Javadoc
documentation?
♦ Example of acceptable ODD:
w [Link]

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 41
Documenting Object Design: ODD Conventions

♦ Each subsystem in a system provides a service (see Chapter on

System Design)
w Describes the set of operations provided by the subsystem
♦ Specifying a service operation as
w Signature: Name of operation, fully typed parameter list and return
type
w Abstract: Describes the operation
w Pre: Precondition for calling the operation
w Post: Postcondition describing important state after the execution of
the operation

♦ Use JavaDoc for the specification of service operations.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 42
JavaDoc

♦ Add documentation comments to the source code.

♦ A doc comment consists of characters between /** and */
♦ When JavaDoc parses a doc comment, leading * characters on
each line are discarded. First, blanks and tabs preceding the
initial * characters are also discarded.
♦ Doc comments may include HTML tags
♦ Example of a doc comment:
/**
* This is a <b> doc </b> comment
*/

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 43
More on JavaDoc

♦ Doc comments are only recognized when placed immediately

before class, interface, constructor, method or field
declarations.
♦ When you embed HTML tags within a doc comment, you
should not use heading tags such as <h1> and <h2>, because
JavaDoc creates an entire structured document and these
structural tags interfere with the formatting of the generated
document.
♦ Class and Interface Doc Tags
♦ Constructor and Method Doc Tags

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 44
Class and Interface Doc Tags
@author name-text
w Creates an “Author” entry.
@version version-text
w Creates a “Version” entry.
@see classname
w Creates a hyperlink “See Also classname”
@since since-text
w Adds a “Since” entry. Usually used to specify that a feature or
change exists since the release number of the software specified in
the “since-text”
@deprecated deprecated-text
w Adds a comment that this method can no longer be used.
Convention is to describe method that serves as replacement
w Example: @deprecated Replaced by setBounds(int, int, int, int).

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 45
Constructor and Method Doc Tags
♦ Can contain @see tag, @since tag, @deprecated as well as:

@param parameter-name description

Adds a parameter to the "Parameters" section. The description may
be continued on the next line.
@return description
Adds a "Returns" section, which contains the description of the
return value.
@exception fully-qualified-class-name description
Adds a "Throws" section, which contains the name of the exception
that may be thrown by the method. The exception is linked to its
class documentation.
@see classname
Adds a hyperlink "See Also" entry to the method.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 46
Example of a Class Doc Comment
/**
* A class representing a window on the screen.
* For example:
* <pre>
* Window win = new Window(parent);
* [Link]();
* </pre>
*
* @author Sami Shaio
* @version %I%, %G%
* @see [Link]
* @see [Link]
*/
class Window extends BaseWindow {
...
}
Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 47
Example of a Method Doc Comment
/**
* Returns the character at the specified index. An index
* ranges from <code>0</code> to <code>length() - 1</code>.
*
* @param index the index of the desired character.
* @return the desired character.
* @exception StringIndexOutOfRangeException
* if the index is not in the range <code>0</code>
* to <code>length()-1</code>.
* @see [Link]#charValue()
*/
public char charAt(int index) {
...
}

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 48
Example of a Field Doc Comment

♦ A field comment can contain only the @see, @since and

@deprecated tags

/**
* The X-coordinate of the window.
*
* @see window#1
*/
int x = 1263732;

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 49
Example: Specifying a Service in Java

/** Office is a physical structure in a building. It is possible to create an

instance of a office; add an occupant; get the name and the number of
occupants */
public class Office {
/** Adds an occupant to the office */
* @param NAME name is a nonempty string */
public void AddOccupant(string name);

/** @Return Returns the name of the office. Requires, that Office has
been initialized with a name */
public string GetName();
....
}

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 50
Implementation of Application Domain Classes

♦ New objects are often needed during object design:

w Use of Design patterns lead to new classes
w The implementation of algorithms may necessitate objects to hold
values
w New low-level operations may be needed during the decomposition
of high-level operations
♦ Example: The EraseArea() operation offered by a drawing
program.
w Conceptually very simple
w Implementation
t Area represented by pixels
t Repair () cleans up objects partially covered by the erased area
t Redraw() draws objects uncovered by the erasure
t Draw() erases pixels in background color not covered by other objects

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 51
Application Domain vs Solution Domain Objects

Requirements Analysis Object Design

(Language of Application (Language of Solution Domain)
Domain)
Incident
Report
Incident
Report

Text box Menu Scrollbar

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 52
Package it all up
♦ Pack up design into discrete physical units that can be edited,
compiled, linked, reused
♦ Construct physical modules
w Ideally use one package for each subsystem
w System decomposition might not be good for implementation.
♦ Two design principles for packaging
w Minimize coupling:
t Classes in client-supplier relationships are usually loosely coupled
t Large number of parameters in some methods mean strong coupling
(> 4-5)
t Avoid global data
w Maximize cohesiveness:
t Classes closely connected by associations => same package

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 53
Packaging Heuristics

♦ Each subsystem service is made available by one or more

interface objects within the package
♦ Start with one interface object for each subsystem service
w Try to limit the number of interface operations (7+-2)
♦ If the subsystem service has too many operations, reconsider
the number of interface objects
♦ If you have too many interface objects, reconsider the number
of subsystems
♦ Difference between interface objects and Java interfaces
w Interface object : Used during requirements analysis, system design
and object design. Denotes a service or API
w Java interface: Used during implementation in Java (A Java
interface may or may not implement an interface object)

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 54
Summary

♦ Object design closes the gap between the requirements and the
machine.
♦ Object design is the process of adding details to the
requirements analysis and making implementation decisions
♦ Object design includes:
1. Service specification
2. Component selection
3. Object model restructuring
4. Object model optimization
♦ Object design is documented in the Object Design Document,
which can be generated using tools such as JavaDoc.

Bernd Bruegge & Allen Dutoit Object-Oriented Software Engineering: Conquering Complex and Changing Systems 55