Collaboration between objects in OOA/OOD methodologies

An object-oriented application may be viewed as a set of collaborations between the objects of the application. The operations of a particular object exist in one place, but the application is an aggregate of object operations where the objects may be distributed throughout the whole system. The interactions between the various objects and their operations is called collaboration. Each OOA/OOD methodology has its own notation for describing objects and collaborations, but there is a common approach underlying and reflected in the individual methodologies. This paper identifies this common approach, discusses the weaknesses common to all the methodologies, and suggests some new directions