Re: How does one model behavior?

"David Cressey" <cressey73_at_verizon.net> wrote in message news:e7YKj.6225$Oa2.3255_at_trndny06...
> How does one model behavior?
>

I think it depends on how behavior is defined. Are you trying to model the behavior of a collection of objects, or the behavior of individual objects. Addition, for example, could be considered part of the behavior of a collection of values, since it shows how two values from the collection can be used to select another (not necessarily distinct) value from the same collection. For value types, behavior must be limited to the behavior of the collection, since values are constant. For reference types, on the other hand, the objects referenced are not necessarily constant, but they retain their identity despite changes to their composition or appearance. That which characterizes these changes is the behavior of the individual objects. It seems to me that one would model the behavior of a collection of objects quite differently from the behavior of the individual objects.

> It would seem to me that, since conveying behavior from one object to
> another rests on messages, and since messages are made of data, that one
> needs a data model for the messaging system before one begins to come up
> with a bhavior model for a system of collaborating objects.
>
> Or is there another completely different way of setting things up?
>
>
Received on Fri Apr 11 2008 - 05:15:44 CEST