Title :
On the Composability of Design Patterns
Author :
Hong Zhu ; Bayley, Ian
Author_Institution :
Oxford Brookes Univ., Oxford, UK
Abstract :
In real applications, design patterns are almost always to be found composed with each other. It is crucial that these compositions be validated. This paper examines the notion of validity, and develops a formal method for proving or disproving it, in a context where composition is performed with formally defined operators on formally specified patterns. In particular, for validity, we require that pattern compositions preserve the features, semantics and soundness of the composed patterns. The application of the theory is demonstrated by a formal analysis of overlap-based pattern compositions and a case study of a real pattern-oriented software design.
Keywords :
formal specification; object-oriented methods; design pattern composability; formal analysis method; formally specified patterns; overlap-based pattern compositions; pattern-oriented software design; Cognition; Context; Semantics; Software design; Software systems; Unified modeling language; Composibility; Design Patterns; Design patterns; Feature preservation; Formal methods; Pattern composition; Semantics preservation; Soundness preservation; composibility; feature preservation; formal methods; pattern composition; semantics preservation; soundness preservation;
Journal_Title :
Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TSE.2015.2445341