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Object-oriented Design
Objectives
 To explain how a software design may be represented as a set of interacting objects that manage
their own state and operations
 To describe the activities in the object-oriented design process
 To introduce various models that can be used to describe an object-oriented design
 To show how the UML may be used to represent these models

Topics covered
 Objects and object classes
 An object-oriented design process
 Design evolution

Object-oriented development
 Object-oriented analysis, design and programming are related but distinct.
 OOA is concerned with developing an object model of the application domain.
 OOD is concerned with developing an object-oriented system model to implement requirements.
 OOP is concerned with realising an OOD using an OO programming language such as Java or C++.

Characteristics of OOD
 Objects are abstractions of real-world or system entities and manage themselves.
 Objects are independent and encapsulate state and representation information.
 System functionality is expressed in terms of object services.
 Shared data areas are eliminated. Objects
communicate by message passing.
 Objects may be distributed and may execute
sequentially or in parallel.
 Interacting objects

Advantages of OOD
 Easier maintenance. Objects may be
understood as stand-alone entities.
 Objects are potentially reusable components.
 For some systems, there may be an obvious
mapping from real world entities to system
objects.

Objects and object classes

 Objects are entities in a software system which represent instances of real-world and system entities.
 Object classes are templates for objects. They may be used to create objects.
 Object classes may inherit attributes and services from other object classes.
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Objects and object classes

The Unified Modeling Language

 Several different notations for describing object-oriented designs were proposed in the 1980s and
1990s.
 The Unified Modeling Language is an integration of these notations.
 It describes notations for a number of different models that may be produced during OO analysis and
design.
 It is now a de facto standard for OO modelling.

Employee object class (UML)

Object communication
 Conceptually, objects communicate by message passing.
 Messages
 The name of the service requested by the calling object;
 Copies of the information required to execute the service
and the name of a holder for the result of the service.
 In practice, messages are often implemented
by procedure calls
 Name = procedure name;
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 Information = parameter list.

Message examples
// Call a method associated with a buffer
// object that returns the next value
// in the buffer
v = circularBuffer.Get () ;

// Call the method associated with a

// thermostat object that sets the
// temperature to be maintained
thermostat.setTemp (20) ;

Generalisation and inheritance

 Objects are members of classes that define attribute types and operations.
 Classes may be arranged in a class hierarchy where one class (a super-class) is a generalisation of
one or more other classes (sub-classes).
 A sub-class inherits the attributes and operations from its super class and may add new methods or
attributes of its own.
 Generalisation in the UML is implemented as inheritance in OO programming languages.

A generalisation hierarchy

Advantages of inheritance
 It is an abstraction mechanism which may be used to classify entities.
 It is a reuse mechanism at both the design and the programming level.
 The inheritance graph is a source of organisational knowledge about domains and systems.

Problems with inheritance

 Object classes are not self-contained. they cannot be understood without reference to their super-
classes.
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 Designers have a tendency to reuse the inheritance graph created during analysis. Can lead to
significant inefficiency.
 The inheritance graphs of analysis, design and implementation have different functions and should be
separately maintained.

UML associations
 Objects and object classes participate in relationships with other objects and object classes.
 In the UML, a generalised relationship is indicated by an association.
 Associations may be annotated with information that describes the association.
 Associations are general but may indicate that an attribute of an object is an associated object or that
a method relies on an associated object.

An association model

Concurrent objects
 The nature of objects as self-contained entities make them suitable for concurrent implementation.
 The message-passing model of object communication can be implemented directly if objects are
running on separate processors in a distributed system.

Servers and active objects

 Servers.
 The object is implemented as a parallel process (server) with entry points corresponding to object
operations. If no calls are made to it, the object suspends itself and waits for further requests for
service.
 Active objects
 Objects are implemented as parallel processes and the internal object state may be changed by the
object itself and not simply by external calls.

Active transponder object

 Active objects may have their attributes modified by operations but may also update them
autonomously using internal operations.
 A Transponder object broadcasts an aircraft’s position. The position may be updated using a satellite
positioning system. The object periodically update the position by triangulation from satellites.
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An active transponder object

class Transponder extends Thread {

Position currentPosition ;
Coords c1, c2 ;
Satellite sat1, sat2 ;
Navigator theNavigator ;

public Position givePosition ()

{
return currentPosition ;
}

public void run ()

{
while (true)
{
c1 = sat1.position () ;
c2 = sat2.position () ;
currentPosition = theNavigator.compute (c1, c2) ;
}

} //Transponder

Java threads
 Threads in Java are a simple construct for implementing concurrent objects.
 Threads must include a method called run() and this is started up by the Java run-time system.
 Active objects typically include an infinite loop so that they are always carrying out the computation.

An object-oriented design process

 Structured design processes involve developing a number of different system models.
 They require a lot of effort for development and maintenance of these models and, for small systems,
this may not be cost-effective.
 However, for large systems developed by different groups design models are an essential
communication mechanism.

Process stages
 Highlights key activities without being tied to any proprietary process such as the RUP.
 Define the context and modes of use of the system;
 Design the system architecture;
 Identify the principal system objects;
 Develop design models;
 Specify object interfaces.
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Weather system description

A weather mapping system is required to generate weather maps on a regular basis using data collected
from remote, unattended weather stations and other data sources such as weather observers, balloons
and satellites. Weather stations transmit their data to the area computer in response to a request from
that machine.

The area computer system validates the collected data and integrates it with the data from different
sources. The integrated data is archived and, using data from this archive and a digitised map database
a set of local weather maps is created. Maps may be printed for distribution on a special-purpose map
printer or may be displayed in a number of different formats.

System context and models of use

 Develop an understanding of the relationships between the software being designed and its external
environment
 System context
 A static model that describes other systems in the environment. Use a subsystem model to show
other systems. Following slide shows the systems around the weather station system.
 Model of system use
 A dynamic model that describes how the system interacts with its environment. Use use-cases to
show interactions

Layered architecture

Data display layer where objects are

concerned with preparing and
«subsystem» presenting the data in a human-
Data display readable form

Data archiving layer where objects

«subsystem» are concerned with storing the data
Data archiving for future processing

Data processing layer where objects

«subsystem» are concerned with checking and
Data processing integ rating the collected data

Data collection layer where objects

«subsystem» are concerned with acquiring data
Data collection from remote sources
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Subsystems in the weather mapping system

«subsystem»
Data collection «subsystem»
Data display

Observer Satellite
User
User Map
Comms inter
interface
face display

Weather Map
station Balloon Map printer

«subsystem» «subsystem»
Data processing Data archiving

Data
Data
Data Data storage
storage
checking integ ration
Map store Data store

Use-case models
 Use-case models are used to represent each interaction with the system.
 A use-case model shows the system features as ellipses and the interacting entity as a stick figure.

Use-cases for the weather station

Use-case description

System Weather station

Use-case Report
Actors Weather data collection system, Weather station
Data The weather station sends a summary of the weather data that has been collected from
the instruments in the collection period to the weather data collection system. The data
sent are the maximum minimum and average ground and air temperatures, the
maximum, minimum and average air pressures, the maximum, minimum and average
wind speeds, the total rainfall and the wind direction as sampled at 5 minute intervals.
Stimulus The weather data collection system establishes a modem link with the weather station
and requests transmission of the data.
Response The summarised data is sent to the weather data collection system
Comments Weather stations are usually asked to report once per hour but this frequency may differ
from one station to the other and may be modified in future.
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Architectural design
 Once interactions between the system and its environment have been understood, you use this
information for designing the system architecture.
 A layered architecture as discussed in Chapter 11 is appropriate for the weather station
 Interface layer for handling communications;
 Data collection layer for managing instruments;
 Instruments layer for collecting data.
 There should normally be no more than 7 entities in an architectural model.

Weather station architecture

Object identification
 Identifying objects (or object classes) is the most difficult part of object oriented design.
 There is no 'magic formula' for object identification. It relies on the skill, experience
and domain knowledge of system designers.
 Object identification is an iterative process. You are unlikely to get it right first time.

Approaches to identification
 Use a grammatical approach based on a natural language description of the system (used in Hood
OOD method).
 Base the identification on tangible things in the application domain.
 Use a behavioural approach and identify objects based on what participates in what behaviour.
 Use a scenario-based analysis. The objects, attributes and methods in each scenario are identified.

Weather station description

A weather station is a package of software controlled instruments which collects data, performs
some data processing and transmits this data for further processing. The instruments include air
and ground thermometers, an anemometer, a wind vane, a barometer and a rain gauge. Data is
collected periodically.
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When a command is issued to transmit the weather data, the weather station processes and
summarises the collected data. The summarised data is transmitted to the mapping computer
when a request is received.

Weather station object classes

 Ground thermometer, Anemometer, Barometer
 Application domain objects that are ‘hardware’ objects related to the instruments in the system.
 Weather station
 The basic interface of the weather station to its environment. It therefore reflects the interactions
identified in the use-case model.
 Weather data
 Encapsulates the summarised data from the instruments.

Weather station object classes

Further objects and object refinement

 Use domain knowledge to identify more objects and operations
 Weather stations should have a unique identifier;
 Weather stations are remotely situated so instrument failures have to be reported automatically.
Therefore attributes and operations for self-checking are required.
 Active or passive objects
 In this case, objects are passive and collect data on request rather than autonomously. This
introduces flexibility at the expense of controller processing time.

Design models
 Design models show the objects and object classes and relationships between these entities.
 Static models describe the static structure of the system in terms of object classes and relationships.
 Dynamic models describe the dynamic interactions between objects.
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Examples of design models

 Sub-system models that show logical groupings of objects into coherent subsystems.
 Sequence models that show the sequence of object interactions.
 State machine models that show how individual objects change their state in response to events.
 Other models include use-case models, aggregation models, generalisation models, etc.

Subsystem models
 Shows how the design is organised into logically related groups of objects.
 In the UML, these are shown using packages - an encapsulation construct. This is a logical model.
The actual organisation of objects in the system may be different.

Weather station subsystems

Sequence models
 Sequence models show the sequence of object interactions that take place
 Objects are arranged horizontally across the top;
 Time is represented vertically so models are read top to bottom;
 Interactions are represented by labelled arrows, Different styles of arrow represent different types
of interaction;
 A thin rectangle in an object lifeline represents the time when the object is the controlling object in
the system.
Data collection sequence
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Statecharts
 Show how objects respond to different service requests and the state transitions triggered by these
requests
 If object state is Shutdown then it responds to a Startup() message;
 In the waiting state the object is waiting for further messages;
 If reportWeather () then system moves to summarising state;
 If calibrate () the system moves to a calibrating state;
 A collecting state is entered when a clock signal is received.

Weather station state diagram

Object interface specification

 Object interfaces have to be specified so that the objects and other components can be designed in
parallel.
 Designers should avoid designing the interface representation but should hide this in the object itself.
 Objects may have several interfaces which are viewpoints on the methods provided.
 The UML uses class diagrams for interface specification but Java may also be used.
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Weather station interface

interface WeatherStation {

public void WeatherStation () ;

public void startup () ;

public void startup (Instrument i) ;

public void shutdown () ;

public void shutdown (Instrument i) ;

public void reportWeather ( ) ;

public void test () ;

public void test ( Instrument i ) ;

public void calibrate ( Instrument i) ;

public int getID () ;

} //WeatherStation

Design evolution
 Hiding information inside objects means that changes made to an object do not affect other objects in
an unpredictable way.
 Assume pollution monitoring facilities are to be added to weather stations. These sample the air and
compute the amount of different pollutants in the atmosphere.
 Pollution readings are transmitted with weather data.

Changes required
 Add an object class called Air quality as part of WeatherStation.
 Add an operation reportAirQuality to WeatherStation. Modify the control software to collect pollution
readings.
 Add objects representing pollution monitoring instruments.
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Pollution monitoring

Key points
 OOD is an approach to design so that design components have their own private state and
operations.
 Objects should have constructor and inspection operations. They provide services to other objects.
 Objects may be implemented sequentially or concurrently.
 The Unified Modeling Language provides different notations for defining different object models.
 A range of different models may be produced during an object-oriented design process. These
include static and dynamic system models.
 Object interfaces should be defined precisely using e.g. a programming language like Java.
 Object-oriented design potentially simplifies system evolution.