An approach to the design of object associations

Much work has been done on the logical modelling of Objects. However, much less effort has been spent on describing the transformation from such logical models to detailed design representations which can subsequently be implemented. This paper reviews the state of current published material on one aspect of this transformation, namely the detailed design of associations. It discusses the shortcomings of existing approaches and proposes an alternative design for associations. The advantages of the proposed approach are described. The paper concludes that a clearer separation of concerns is achieved, leading to improved extensibility. The rigour of the approach lends itself to automated support.