The optimization of class hierarchy in object-oriented design

  • Authors:

  • Xiaodong Yuan;Ying Feng

  • Affiliations:

  • Nanjing Automation Research Institute, Ministry of Electric Power, Nanjing 210003, P. R. China;Computer Science Department, Lindley Hall 215, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

  • Venue:
  • ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes
  • Year:
  • 2000

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Abstract

Constructing class hierarchies is an important step in object-oriented design, but no formal and effective methods of optimizing class hierarchies were previously established. In this paper, we first divide the relationship between object sets into four categories: inclusion, superposition, separation, and cross. Then the genres of inheritance are discussed from the point of view of object set. Following that, we introduce the concept of maximal uncrossed set used to optimize a class hierarchy. Through finding all of these maximal uncrossed sets, we present the method and steps of constructing a reasonable, clear, and complete class hierarchy. Various representations of inheritance relationship in a class hierarchy diagram and a recursion algorithm to get all the maximal uncrossed sets are also provided in this paper.