Object Design:

Reuse and Patterns I

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: Iterates on the models, in particular the object
model and refine the models
 Object Design serves as the basis of implementation
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

Machine
Examples of Object Design Activities

 Identification of existing components

 Full definition of associations
 Full definition of classes (System Design => Service, Object
Design => API)
 Specifying the contract for each component
 Choosing algorithms and data structures
 Identifying possibilities of reuse
 Detection of solution-domain classes
 Optimization
 Increase of inheritance
 Decision on control
 Packaging
A More Detailed View of Object Design Activities

Select Subsystem

Specification Reuse

Identifying missing
Identifying components
attributes & operations

Specifying visibility
Adjusting components
Specifying types &
signatures

Identifying patterns
Specifying constraints

Specifying exceptions Adjusting patterns

Detailed View of Object Design Activities (ctd)

Check Use Cases

Restructuring Optimization

Revisiting Optimizing access

inheritance paths

Collapsing classes Caching complex

computations

Delaying complex
Realizing associations computations
A Little Bit of Terminology: Activities
 Object-Oriented methodologies use these terms:
 System Design Activity
 Decomposition into subsystems
 Object Design Activity
 Implementation language chosen
 Data structures and algorithms chosen
 Structured analysis/structured design uses these terms:
 Preliminary Design Activity
 Decomposition into subsystems
 Data structures are chosen
 Detailed Design Activity
 Algorithms are chosen
 Data structures are refined
 Implementation language is chosen
 Typically in parallel with preliminary design, not a separate activity
Plan for the next Lectures Today we
Start here

1. Reuse: Identification of existing solutions

 Use of inheritance
 Off-the-shelf components and additional Object
solution objects Design
lectures
 Design patterns
2. Interface specification
 Describes precisely each class interface
3. Object model restructuring
Mapping
 Transforms the object design model to
Models to Code
improve its understandability and extensibility
lecture
4. Object model optimization
 Transforms the object design model to address
performance criteria such as response time or
memory utilization.
Outline of Today

 Reuse Concepts
 The use of inheritance
 Implementation vs Interface Inheritance
 Delegation
 Components
 Documenting the Object Design
 JavaDoc
Reuse Concepts

 Application objects versus solution objects

 Specification inheritance and implementation inheritance
 The Liskov Substitution Principle
 Delegation (Section 8.3.3)
 Delegation and inheritance in design patterns
Application domain vs solution domain objects

 Application objects, also called domain objects, represent

concepts of the domain that are relevant to the system.
 They are identified by the application domain specialists and by the
end users.
 Solution objects represent concepts that do not have a
counterpart in the application domain,
 They are identified by the developers
 Examples: Persistent data stores, user interface objects,
middleware.
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

Implementation of Application Domain Classes

 New objects are often needed during object design:

 The use of design patterns introduces new classes
 The implementation of algorithms may necessitate objects to hold
values
 New low-level operations may be needed during the decomposition
of high-level operations
 Example: The EraseArea() operation in a drawing program.
 Conceptually very simple
 Implementation
 Area represented by pixels
 Repair () cleans up objects partially covered by the erased area
 Redraw() draws objects uncovered by the erasure
 Draw() erases pixels in background color not covered by other objects
Observation about Modeling of the Real World

 [Gamma et al 94]:
 Strict modeling of the real world leads to a system that reflects
today’s realities but not necessarily tomorrow’s.

 There is a need for reusable and flexible designs

 Design knowledge complements application domain

knowledge and solution domain knowledge.
The use of inheritance

 Inheritance is used to achieve two different goals

 Description of Taxonomies
 Interface Specification
 Identification of taxonomies
 Used during requirements analysis.
 Activity: identify application domain objects that are
hierarchically related
 Goal: make the analysis model more understandable
 Service specification
 Used during object design
 Activity:
 Goal: increase reusability, enhance modifiability and extensibility
 Inheritance is found either by specialization or generalization
 Metamodel for Inheritance

 Inheritance is used during analysis and object design

Inheritance Object
Design
Analysis
activity

Taxonomy Inheritance
for Reuse

Inheritance detected Inheritance detected Specification Implementation

by specialization by generalization Inheritance Inheritance
Taxonomy Example

Mammal

Tiger Wolf Wale

Implementation Inheritance

 A very similar class is already implemented that does almost

the same as the desired class implementation.
 Example: I have a List List
Add ()
class, I need a Stack
class. How about Remove()
subclassing the Stack “Already
class from the List class implemented”
and providing three
methods, Push() and Stack
Pop(), Top()? Push ()
Pop()
Top()

 Problem with implementation inheritance:

Some of the inherited operations might exhibit unwanted behavior.
What happens if the Stack user calls Remove() instead of Pop()?
Implementation Inheritance vs Interface Inheritance

 Implementation inheritance
 Also called class inheritance
 Goal: Extend an applications’ functionality by reusing functionality
in parent class
 Inherit from an existing class with some or all operations already
implemented

 Interface inheritance
 Also called subtyping
 Inherit from an abstract class with all operations specified, but not
yet implemented
Delegation as alternative to Implementation
Inheritance

 Delegation is a way of making composition (for example

aggregation) as powerful for reuse as inheritance
 In Delegation two objects are involved in handling a request
 A receiving object delegates operations to its delegate.
 The developer can make sure that the receiving object does not
allow the client to misuse the delegate object

calls Delegates to Delegate

Client Receiver
Delegation instead of Implementation Inheritance

 Inheritance: Extending a Base class by a new operation or

overwriting an operation.
 Delegation: Catching an operation and sending it to another
object.
 Which of the following models is better for implementing a
stack? List

+Add() Stack List

+Remove()

Remove()
+Push() Add()
Stack +Pop()
+Top()
+Push()
+Pop()
+Top()
Comparison: Delegation vs Implementation Inheritance

 Delegation
 Pro:
 Flexibility: Any object can be replaced at run time by another one (as
long as it has the same type)
 Con:
 Inefficiency: Objects are encapsulated.
 Inheritance
 Pro:
 Straightforward to use
 Supported by many programming languages
 Easy to implement new functionality
 Con:
 Inheritance exposes a subclass to the details of its parent class
 Any change in the parent class implementation forces the subclass to
change (which requires recompilation of both)
 Lecture on
Design Patterns

Many design patterns use a

combination of inheritance and
delegation
Component Selection

 Select existing
 off-the-shelf class libraries
 frameworks or
 components
 Adjust the class libraries, framework or components
 Change the API if you have the source code.
 Use the adapter or bridge pattern if you don’t have access
 Architecture Driven Design
Reuse...

 Look for existing classes in class libraries

 JSAPI, JTAPI, ....
 Select data structures appropriate to the algorithms
 Container classes
 Arrays, lists, queues, stacks, sets, trees, ...
 It might be necessary to define new internal classes and
operations
 Complex operations defined in terms of lower-level
operations might need new classes and operations
Frameworks

 A framework is a reusable partial application that can be

specialized to produce custom applications.
 Frameworks are targeted to particular technologies, such as
data processing or cellular communications, or to application
domains, such as user interfaces or real-time avionics.
 The key benefits of frameworks are reusability and
extensibility.
 Reusability leverages of the application domain knowledge and
prior effort of experienced developers
 Extensibility is provided by hook methods, which are overwritten
by the application to extend the framework.
 Hook methods systematically decouple the interfaces and behaviors of
an application domain from the variations required by an application
in a particular context.
Classification of Frameworks

 Frameworks can be classified by their position in the software

development process.

 Frameworks can also be classified by the techniques used to

extend them.
 Whitebox frameworks
 Blackbox frameworks
Frameworks in the Development Process

 Infrastructure frameworks aim to simplify the software

development process
 System infrastructure frameworks are used internally within a
software project and are usually not delivered to a client.
 Middleware frameworks are used to integrate existing
distributed applications and components.
 Examples: MFC, DCOM, Java RMI, WebObjects, WebSphere,
WebLogic Enterprise Application [BEA].
 Enterprise application frameworks are application specific and
focus on domains
 Example domains: telecommunications, avionics, environmental
modeling, manufacturing, financial engineering, enterprise business
activities.
White-box and Black-Box Frameworks

 Whitebox frameworks:
 Extensibility achieved through inheritance and dynamic binding.
 Existing functionality is extended by subclassing framework base
classes and overriding predefined hook methods
 Often design patterns such as the template method pattern are used
to override the hook methods.
 Blackbox frameworks
 Extensibility achieved by defining interfaces for components that
can be plugged into the framework.
 Existing functionality is reused by defining components that
conform to a particular interface
 These components are integrated with the framework via
delegation.
Class libraries and Frameworks
 Class Libraries:
 Less domain specific
 Provide a smaller scope of reuse.
 Class libraries are passive; no constraint on control flow.
 Framework:
 Classes cooperate for a family of related applications.
 Frameworks are active; affect the flow of control.
 In practice, developers often use both:
 Frameworks often use class libraries internally to simplify the
development of the framework.
 Framework event handlers use class libraries to perform basic tasks
(e.g. string processing, file management, numerical analysis…. )
Components and Frameworks
 Components
 Self-contained instances of classes
 Plugged together to form complete applications.
 Blackbox that defines a cohesive set of operations,
 Can be used based on the syntax and semantics of the interface.
 Components can even be reused on the binary code level.
 The advantage is that applications do not always have to be recompiled
when components change.
 Frameworks:
 Often used to develop components
 Components are often plugged into blackbox frameworks.
Example: Framework for Building Web Applications

WebObjects
WebBrowser

WebServer WebObjectsApplication
WOAdaptor
WORequest
WoRequest
StaticHTML Template EOF

RelationalDatabase
 Documenting the Object Design: The Object Design
Document (ODD)
 Object design document
 Same as the Requirements Analysis Document (RAD) plus...
 … additions to object, functional and dynamic models (from solution
domain)
 … navigational map for object model
 … Javadoc documentation for all classes
 ODD Management issues
 Update the system models in the RAD?
 Should the ODD be a separate document?
 Who is the target audience for these documents (Customer, developer?)
 If time is short: Focus on the Navigational Map and Javadoc
documentation?
 ODD Template:
 http://www.oose.org
Documenting Object Design: ODD Conventions

 Each subsystem in a system provides a service (see Chapters on

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

 Use JavaDoc for the specification of service operations.

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
*/
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
Class and Interface Doc Tags
@author name-text
 Creates an “Author” entry.
@version version-text
 Creates a “Version” entry.
@see classname
 Creates a hyperlink “See Also classname”
@since since-text
 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
 Adds a comment that this method can no longer be used.
Convention is to describe method that serves as replacement
 Example: @deprecated Replaced by setBounds(int, int, int, int).
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.
Example of a Class Doc Comment
/**
* A class representing a window on the screen.
* For example:
* <pre>
* Window win = new Window(parent);
* win.show();
* </pre>
*
* @author Sami Shaio
* @version %I%, %G%
* @see java.awt.BaseWindow
* @see java.awt.Button
*/
class Window extends BaseWindow {
...
}
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 java.lang.Character#charValue()
*/
public char charAt(int index) {
...
}
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;
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();
....
}
Package it all up
 Pack up design into discrete physical units that can be edited,
compiled, linked, reused
 Construct physical modules
 Ideally use one package for each subsystem
 System decomposition might not be good for implementation.
 Two design principles for packaging
 Minimize coupling:
 Classes in client-supplier relationships are usually loosely coupled
 Large number of parameters in some methods mean strong coupling
(> 4-5)
 Avoid global data
 Maximize cohesion:
 Classes closely connected by associations => same package
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
 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
 Interface object : Used during requirements analysis, system design
and object design. Denotes a service or API
 Java interface: Used during implementation in Java (A Java
interface may or may not implement an interface object)
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 activities include:
 Identification of Reuse
 Identification of Inheritance and Delegation opportunities
 Component selection
 Interface specification (next lecture)
 Object model restructuring
Lecture on Mapping Models to Code
 Object model optimization
 Object design is documented in the Object Design Document,
which can be automatically generated from a specification
using tools such as JavaDoc.
Additional Slides
 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)
Reuse

 Main goal:
 Reuse knowledge from previous experience to current problem
 Reuse functionality already available
 Composition (also called Black Box Reuse)
 New functionality is obtained by aggregation
 The new object with more functionality is an aggregation of existing
components
 Inheritance (also called White-box Reuse)
 New functionality is obtained by inheritance.
 Three ways to get new functionality:
 Implementation inheritance
 Interface inheritance
 Delegation
Reuse Heuristics

 Look for existing classes in class libraries

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