Tutorials -- Half Day/Thursday PM

Fowler presents some Analysis Patterns that describe a dynamic model that can adapt smoothly to new requirements without necessarily needing the programmer to change the way that objects interact. Analysis Patterns are quite different than Design Patterns in that they describe recurrent problems in term of the elements or concepts that are present in a problem domain. Analysis Patterns will influence how the code is designed but does not directly deal with implementation details as is done is Design Patterns. To implement such dynamic systems, you are building an active object-model. Therefore, this tutorial will explain Active Object-Models and how to implement them. A system with an Active Object-Model has an explicit object model that it interprets at run-time. If you change the object model, the system changes its behavior. This tutorial describes how we extended and implemented Analysis Patterns in the medical domain. This work is based upon the results of our experience implementing the observation model for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Attendee Background: Attendees should have an understanding of the GOF patterns and Fowler's Analysis Patterns. The intended audience is for those that are working on developing frameworks or visual languages or very dynamic systems.

Joseph W. Yoder has been studying and developing software since 1985. Since 1990 his focus has been on object-oriented technology. For the last few years Joe has been investigating "visual languages for business modeling" and "active object-models". Joe is also studying and writing design patterns for developing reusable software and domain specific languages. This has included how to evolve more reusable fine-grained components from frameworks and the study on how to manage or promote reuse through component libraries.

Federico Balaguer has been developing object-oriented software for over ten years. He is currently working on implementing Martin Fowler's Analysis Patterns at Illinois Department of Public Health and is also working with Professor Ralph Johnson on finishing his Ph.D.