Model-view-controller and object teams

Abstract

From the early days of object-oriented programming, the model-view-controller paradigm has been pursued for a clear design which separates different responsibilities within an interactive application. In contrast to its untyped implementation in Smalltalk, any implementation in a statically typed language involves certain trade-offs which either blur the clear structure, destroy the intended independence, or introduce undue administrative overhead. Each alternative creates a different caricature of the originally crisp architecture. The programming model Object Teams provides a new modeling unit called Team plus a number of binding mechanisms by which a Team and its contained roles can be bound to existing parts of an application. It turns out that these mechanisms fit nicely for implementing a clear model-view-controller design not only for single elements but also for complex structures of GUI elements plus their binding to complex model structures. We furthermore propose to use the model-view-controller paradigm as a benchmark for AOSD approaches, since it combines a set of typical problems concerning the separation and integration of concerns.