• DocumentCode
    1399138
  • Title

    Tell less, say more: the power of implicitness

  • Author

    Meyer, Bertrand

  • Author_Institution
    EiffelSoft, Goleta, CA, USA
  • Volume
    31
  • Issue
    7
  • fYear
    1998
  • fDate
    7/1/1998 12:00:00 AM
  • Firstpage
    97
  • Lastpage
    98
  • Abstract
    Implicitness is a very practical feature of OO development, as distinctive as anything that is routinely considered part of the definition. It is the constant refusal to say more than what we strictly need to say. The double refusal (refusal to close, refusal to assert completeness) requires some intellectual audacity, but yields a productive development process. In the end, what resolves the contradiction is the release of the software. The release process (the process of closing what was until now open) is the process of equating each type with the Cartesian product of its properties. So when everything has been said, the objects are indeed what they have. But only at the end. Until then, you always leave room for more properties. Everything is open until officially closed; and by telling less now you retain the possibility of saying more later
  • Keywords
    object-oriented programming; OO development; development process; implicitness; refusal to assert completeness; refusal to close; release process; Large-scale systems; Mathematical model; Object oriented modeling; Technological innovation;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Journal_Title
    Computer
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • ISSN
    0018-9162
  • Type

    jour

  • DOI
    10.1109/2.689680
  • Filename
    689680