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Automatic maintenance of association invariants

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Abstract

Many approaches to software specification and design make use of invariants: constraints whose truth is preserved under operations on a system or component. Object modelling involves the definition of association invariants: constraints upon the sets of links corresponding to particular associations, most often concerning type, multiplicity, or symmetry. This paper shows how the definitions of operations may be extended to take account of association invariants, so that they may be properly considered when the operations are implemented. It introduces a formal, object-based modelling notation in which the process of extension and implementation, and thus the maintenance of association invariants, can be automated, making it easier to produce correct implementations of an object-oriented design.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oxford University Computing Laboratory, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QD, UK

    James Welch, David Faitelson & Jim Davies

Authors
  1. James Welch
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  2. David Faitelson
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  3. Jim Davies
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to James Welch.

Additional information

Communicated by Dr. Bernhard Beckert.

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Welch, J., Faitelson, D. & Davies, J. Automatic maintenance of association invariants. Softw Syst Model 7, 287–301 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-008-0085-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-008-0085-0

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