Productivity = Components

In it’s most basic form, a component
is a reusable software artifact. Components are ... objects which conform
to certain prescribed “design patterns” . Components can be created either
from templates (classes) OR by cloning an existing instance of a component
which serves as an exemplar. Components are delivered as package consisting
of the class and possibly a serialized version of a component instance
itself (besides other supporting artifacts). Unpackaging can cause the
serialized component to reinstate itself at the destination.
BEA Systems, Inc.
ICL High Performance Systems
International Business Machines
Corporation
IONA Technologies PLC.
Netscape Communications Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Unisys Corporation
Visigenic Software, Inc.
OMG TC Document orbos/97-11-24,
November 10th, 1997
A component is (Ivar Jacobson):
-
A subsystem, use-case, actor, or an object class
-
A good abstraction for higher level design,
with access restricted by visibility rules
-
Not bound to any specific application
-
A high quality product due to careful design
and testing
-
Packaged for reuse with a well-designed interface,
documentation, etc.
-
General so that it can be used in several places
-
Specialized when used
References


© Jeff Sutherland 1995-98