Aspects for Modularizing Collaborating Behaviors in Method Implementation

Abstract

A method of a class in an object-oriented (OO) program often must implement collaborating behaviors that require multiple inter-dependent tasks to be performed within the same period of time to accomplish a certain goal. To achieve the separation of concerns in the description of a collaborating behavior, the tasks involved and the protocol through which these tasks interact should be modularized and described separately. This paper presents a new programming technique to support such a modularization strategy during method design. With examples, we illustrate that our technique may allow the achievement of better modularity in an OO program than using existing techniques.