Specifying conceptual interface patterns in an object-oriented method with automatic code generation

Too often, when software is being developed, the software engineers do not sufficiently consider how easy the system will be to use and learn. Following the steps of other related works developed in our research group, the paper deals with the problems of gathering information on the conceptual level about the interface characteristics of the applications that are generated in an automatic way using the OO-Method (O. Pastor et al., 1997; 1998). The basic idea is to include in the conceptual modelling process both the functionality and interface characteristics for obtaining a complete application that implements the systems modelled using the underlying object oriented approach. The “OO-Method” is based not only on the object oriented paradigm but also on the automatic programming paradigm. It combines the advantages of formal specification systems with the practice provided by conventional object oriented methodologies. After presenting a description of the OO-Method, the core of the paper focuses on how to collect interface information at the conceptual level, using a technique based on the identification of conceptual interface patterns which are independent of any implementation detail. The corresponding extensions to the OO-Method Conceptual Modelling notation that are necessary for modelling interfaces are presented