Encapsulation and information hiding as the keys to enhanced hypermedia development and maintenance

  • Authors:

  • Wilfried Lemahieu

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Applied Economic Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium

  • Venue:
  • Data & Knowledge Engineering
  • Year:
  • 2003

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Abstract

This paper presents a solution to the maintenance problem in hypermedia by applying object-oriented techniques to both the hypermedia data model and the hypermedia system's actual implementation. First, the primary concepts of the "MESH" (Maintainable, End user friendly, Structured Hypermedia) approach are discussed briefly. These consist of a conceptual data model, a navigation paradigm and an implementation framework. Thereafter, it is shown how the object-oriented concepts of encapsulation and information hiding result in a hypermedia system consisting of self-contained, independently coded nodes. Intranode maintenance is separated entirely from internode maintenance: the hyperbase's link structure can be updated without affecting node content, whereas an individual node's multimedia content can be reorganized without necessitating updates to links or link anchors.