Assessing inheritance for the multiple descendant redefinition problem in OO systems.

Li-Thiao-Te, Philippe; Kennedy, Jessie; Owens, John

Abstract

Current use of inheritance has illustrated that the introduction of conceptual inconsistencies is possible in a class hierarchy. This paper discusses the reasons why
complete method redefinition infringes the essence of inheritance. A redefinition metric set is proposed and practical experiments demonstrate that the results
obtained permit the detection of inheritance design problems. Appropriate design decisions are suggested.

• Conference Name: International Conference on Object Oriented Information Systems - OOIS’97
• Start Date: Nov 10, 1997
• End Date: Nov 12, 1997
• Publication Date: 1997-11
• Deposit Date: Nov 11, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 11, 2009
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 197-210
• Book Title: Proceedings of [the] International Conference on Object Oriented Information Systems (OOIS'97)
• ISBN: 3-540-76170-5
• Keywords: Object oriented programming; Object oriented design; Inheritance; Hierarchical classification; Conceptual inconsistency; Redefinition metric set; Application; Benefits
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/2977
• Contract Date: Nov 11, 2009