Accession Number:

ADA288531

Title:

Beyond Objects: A Software Design Paradigm Based on Process Control.

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIV PITTSBURGH PA SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Personal Author(s):

• Shaw, Mary

Report Date:

1994-01-01

Pagination or Media Count:

20.0

Abstract:

A standard demonstration problem in object-oriented programming is the design of an automobile cruise control. This design exercise demonstrates object-oriented techniques well, but it does not ask whether the object-oriented paradigm is the best one for the task Here we examine the alternative view that cruise control is essentially a control problem. We present a new software organization paradigm motivated by process control loops. The control view leads us to an architecture that is dominated by analysis of a classical feedback loop rather than by the identification of discrete stateful components to treat as objects. The change in architectural model calls attention to important questions about the cruise control task that arent addressed in an object-oriented design.

Descriptors:

• *COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN
• * PROBLEM SOLVING
• *PASSENGER VEHICLES
• COMPUTER PROGRAMS
• CONTROL
• ORGANIZATIONS
• MODELS
• DEMONSTRATIONS
• FEEDBACK
• ARCHITECTURE
• LOOPS

Subject Categories:

• Computer Programming and Software
• Surface Transportation and Equipment

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE