Object Oriented Specification based on Restrictions: Participation and Interaction

Abstract

We show in this paper an object oriented model (and an associate language called TESORO) based on several kinds of restrictions. We describe the template of an object class using four types of restrictions: a) static restrictions that allow us to express a state invariant, b) transition restrictions that describe the relationship between the previous and following states of an event occurrence, c) participation restrictions that specify the possible ways of evolution, and d) interaction restrictions that describe the way in which objects synchronise and communicate among them. Another important characteristic of our model is the differentiation between individual and collective features of objects. In this sense when we specify the template of a class, we can describe individual restrictions that have an effect only on an object, or we can describe collective restrictions that have an effect on a set of objects or even on a whole class of objects.