Adaptive object-oriented programming using graph-based customization

Abstract

Object-oriented programs are easier to extend than programs which are not written in an object-oriented style, but object-oriented programs are still very rigid and hard to adapt and maintain. In this article, we introduce adaptive object-oriented programming as an extension to conventional object-oriented programming. Adaptive object-oriented programming facilitates expressing the elements - classes and methods - that are essential to an application by avoiding to make a commitment on the particular class structure of the application. Adaptive programs are specified using propagation patterns which specify sets of related constraints on class structures. An adaptive program denotes an entire family of programs, as many programs as there are class structures which satisfy its constraints. A class structure which satisfies the constraints of an adaptive program is said to customize the program. Adaptive programming, realized by the use of propagation patterns, offers a new paradigm, ext...