The object oriented paradigm in practice

Abstract

The object-oriented (OO) paradigm was used extensively in a medium-sized software development project involving a team of 30 programmers over 18 months spanning late 1990 and through 1991, implementing specifications in excess of 800 written pages. The OO paradigm permeated the project as the OO development methodology and specifications were mapped to OO programming concepts using newly available OO tools. The approach was found to be valuable in decoupling the various programmer subgroups, shortening overall development cycles by allowing concurrent coding of distinct software phases, reducing testing times, minimizing modification impacts, and providing a standard framework on which future applications could be built. On the negative side, the combination of OO and non-OO tools created administrative complexities in the linking of libraries as well as source code control. Overall, the combination of methodology, information model, and corresponding OO programming tools proved to be an effective approach for a medium-sized software development with functional requirements. >