Some limitations of object-oriented design

It is pointed out that real-world phenomena often operate in defiance of a simple object decomposition. Many parts of the real world are continuous, not discrete, and the choice of where objects begin and end in an object-based design can be difficult to discern or may be quite arbitrary. Several cases in which real world behaves as a continuum are presented. The first and second cases are drawn from electrical engineering to highlight some of the problems inherent in carrying object-oriented decomposition to very fine detail. The third case, from basic physics, details the sources and effects of gyroscopic forces. The fourth case deals with the problem of conceptual objects which are needed to complete a design but do not represent articles of hardware or easily identified discrete entities in the world.<>