FROM OBJECTS TO CLASSES - ALGORITHMS FOR OPTIMAL OBJECT-ORIENTED DESIGN

The contributions of this paper are two-fold: first, we introduce a novel, axiomatically defined, object-oriented data model called the Demeter kernel model; and secondly, we present abstraction and optimisation algorithms and their relationships for designing classes from objects in the kernel model. We analyse several computational problems underlying the class design process, which is divided into two phases; a learning phase and an optimisation phase. This study focuses on approximation algorithms for the optimisation phase and aims to lead to a better understanding and a partial automation of the object-oriented design process. The algorithms and the theory presented here have been implemented in the C + + Demeter System, a CASE tool for object-oriented design and programming.