An object-oriented design process Process stages

z Structured design processes involve z Highlights key activities without being tied to
developing a number of different system any proprietary process such as the RUP.
models. • Define the context and modes of use of the
z They require a lot of effort for development system;
and maintenance of these models and, for • Design the system architecture;
small systems, this may not be cost- • Identify the principal system objects;
effective.
• Develop design models;
z However, for large systems developed by • Specify object interfaces.
different groups design models are an
essential communication mechanism.

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Weather system description System context and models of use

A weather mapping system is required to generate weather maps on a z Develop an understanding of the relationships
regular basis using data collected from remote, unattended weather stations between the software being designed and its
and other data sources such as weather observers, balloons and satellites. external environment
Weather stations transmit their data to the area computer in response to a
request from that machine. z System context
• A static model that describes other systems in the
The area computer system validates the collected data and integrates it with environment. Use a subsystem model to show other
the data from different sources. The integrated data is archived and, using systems. Following slide shows the systems around the
data from this archive and a digitised map database a set of local weather weather station system.
maps is created. Maps may be printed for distribution on a special-purpose
z Model of system use
map printer or may be displayed in a number of different formats.
• A dynamic model that describes how the system interacts
with its environment. Use use-cases to show interactions

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Layered architecture Subsystems in the weather mapping system

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 Use-case models Use-cases for the weather station

z Use-case models are used to represent each

interaction with the system.
z A use-case model shows the system
features as ellipses and the interacting entity
as a stick figure.

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Use-case description Architectural design

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

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Weather station architecture Object identification

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

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 Approaches to identification Weather station object classes
z Use a grammatical approach based on a natural z Ground thermometer, Anemometer, Barometer
language description of the system (used in Hood • Application domain objects that are ‘hardware’ objects
OOD method). related to the instruments in the system.
z Base the identification on tangible things in the z Weather station
application domain. • The basic interface of the weather station to its
environment. It therefore reflects the interactions
z Use a behavioural approach and identify objects identified in the use-case model.
based on what participates in what behaviour.
z Weather data
z Use a scenario-based analysis. The objects, • Encapsulates the summarised data from the instruments.
attributes and methods in each scenario are
identified.

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Weather station object classes Further objects and object refinement

z 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.
z 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.

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Design models Examples of design models

z Design models show the objects and object z Sub-system models that show logical groupings of
classes and relationships between these objects into coherent subsystems.
entities. z Sequence models that show the sequence of object
interactions.
z Static models describe the static structure of
z State machine models that show how individual
the system in terms of object classes and objects change their state in response to events.
relationships. z Other models include use-case models, aggregation
z Dynamic models describe the dynamic models, generalisation models, etc.
interactions between objects.

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 Subsystem models Weather station subsystems
z Shows how the design is organised into
logically related groups of objects.
z 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.

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Sequence models Data collection sequence

z 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.

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Statecharts Weather station state diagram

z 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.

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 Object interface specification Weather station interface
z Object interfaces have to be specified so that the interface WeatherStation {

objects and other components can be designed in public void WeatherStation () ;

parallel. public void startup () ;

public void startup (Instrument i) ;
z Designers should avoid designing the interface
representation but should hide this in the object public void shutdown () ;
public void shutdown (Instrument i) ;
itself.
public void reportWeather ( ) ;
z Objects may have several interfaces which are
public void test () ;
viewpoints on the methods provided. public void test ( Instrument i ) ;

z The UML uses class diagrams for interface public void calibrate ( Instrument i) ;
specification but Java may also be used. public int getID () ;

} //WeatherStation

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Design evolution Changes required

z Hiding information inside objects means that z Add an object class called Air quality as part
changes made to an object do not affect other of WeatherStation.
objects in an unpredictable way.
z Assume pollution monitoring facilities are to be
z Add an operation reportAirQuality to
added to weather stations. These sample the WeatherStation. Modify the control software
air and compute the amount of different to collect pollution readings.
pollutants in the atmosphere. z Add objects representing pollution monitoring
z Pollution readings are transmitted with weather instruments.
data.

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Pollution monitoring

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