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OSA Tutorial
An OSA Tutorial
by
How to use this hyper-document
This is a hyper-text tutorial and reference manual for
OSA, an Object-oriented Systems Analysis technique.
You can get details, further explanations, or related subjects by clicking
on highlighted words.
The objective of this tutorial is for you to learn
- what OSA is,
- how to use OSA to model the real world, and
- why using OSA can lead to better systems.
The first part of this page explains the
general ideas behind and
approaches of OSA: what does it do, when and how does one use it,
what to expect (and not to expect), etc.
The second part explains the individual
building blocks from which models are constructed.
The last part is reference material for OSA:
a glossary,
a symbolary, and
a bibliography and URL's.
We use markers in the text to indicate special parts of this tutorial.
The Philosophy of OSA
OSA is an objected-oriented systems
analysis technique, which we understand as the study of a specific domain of interacting
objects for the purpose of understanding and documenting their essential characteristics.
It has the expressive power to represent reality. Its underlying concepts are based
on formal definitions of system data and behavior modeling.
Object-oriented vs. Process-oriented analysis
Process-oriented analysis describes systems as a network of interacting processes. It includes
descriptions of data used by processes, which are recorded in a data dictionary. This approach
often steers the analyst away from studying system components and their interrelationships
towards studying how the system might be designed and implemented. It is also difficult for
process-oriented analysis to map concepts between a network of processes and objects existing
in a real-world system.
As opposed to process-oriented analysis, object-oriented analysis modularizes an analysis document
along the same object boundaries that exist in a real-world system. In addition, this approach also
organizes all knowledge about each system object in a single logical location in the analysis document.
Thus, information about a system object is easier to locate in object-oriented analysis than in
other analysis methods. The object-oriented approach also encourages analysts to concentrate on
"what" rather than "how", which reduces the temptation to skip prematurely to design. To make it
easier to understand information about objects, object-oriented techniques
provide forms of abstraction including aggregation, generalization and classification.
Model-driven (vs. Method-driven) analysis
A method-driven approach consists of a fixed sequence of steps to
follow. That is, a system is developed by some method, such as the
waterfall method or the spiral model. In practice,
these steps cannot be followed exactly. When development problems are
encountered, the analyst must adjust the order of steps, adapt the
procedures,
and make exceptions to rules. The analyst is left to rely
on experience and underlying principles, which may be undocumented and
are poorly understood.
A model-driven technique, on the other hand, provides a prespecified set of fundamental concepts with
which to model the system under study. This aids analysts in building models as best suits their needs.
The philosophy of the model-driven technique is that the most important thing to learn is not a
step-by-step procedure, but rather the conceptual framework behind the analysis technique.
Reality Representation
An OSA model is designed with the idea that reality is represented instead of some particular programming
language. Modeling components have been designed to allow analysts to capture everything of importance
in a system. Thus, OSA encourages analysts to represent systems the way they are perceived,
without being constrained by how it will be implemented.
Formal Basis
The underlying concepts of OSA are based on formal definitions of system data and behavior modeling.
Analysis through the construction of system models, whose modeling constructs are based on formal definitions,
is helpful for the following reasons.
- 1) Models based on formal definitions can provide a foundation for testing
model integrity, and completeness of analysis.
- 2) Since formal model definition ensures a consistent
interpretation, it can provide a mechanism for communicating system understanding within the analysis
team.
- 3) A model with a formal foundation can also improve communication with parties outside the analysis team.
The Components of OSA
OSA has concepts to formalize just about everything one needs to model
a real world situation. Although OSA is an "integrated" modeling
scheme, that is all the parts work together, it can conveniently be
seen as consisting of three parts: ORM,
OBM, and OIM.
ORM - Object-Relationship Model
The ORM (Object-Relationship Model) is a way to
describe or represent objects, classes of object, relationships
between objects
and classes, and memberships of the real world.
The ORM consists of:
- Objects,
- Object Classes,
- Lexical Object Classes
- Relational Object Classes
- High-Level Object Classes
- Relationships,
- Relationship Sets, and the
special forms,
- Generalization/Specialization
- Roles
- Aggregation
- Association
- Constraints,
- Participation Constraints
- Co-occurrence Constraints
- Object-class Cardinality Constraints
- Specialization Constraints
- General Constraints
- High-Level Relationship Sets, and
- Notes.
OBM - Object-Behavior Model
The OBM (Object-Behavior Model) is a means of describing the
behavior of objects. It is a means of explaining an object's possible
states (informally, what it may do) and how and why it changes state.
The OBM may be thought of as
detailing when and how objects join and leave object classes and
relationships.
The OBM consists of:
States,
Transitions,
- Triggers, Conditions, and Events,
- Actions,
- Initial Transitions,
- Final Transitions,
Exceptions,
Prior States,
Subsequent States,
Threads,
Real-Time Constraints,
General Constraints for Behaviors,
High Level States,
High Level Transitions, and
Generalization/Specialization.
OIM - Object-Interaction Model
Under construction
The OIM consists of:
Specifying Interacting Objects,
Interacting with Multiple Objects,
Bidirectional Interaction,
Special Interactions,
- Access
- Modify
- Remove and Destroy
- Add and Create
Continuous Interaction,
Time-Constrained Interactions,
General Constraints for Interactions,
Interaction Within an Object Class,
High-Level Interactions and Views, and
Generalization/Specialization.
References
This section gives references which may be helpful while reading OSA
models or using OSA to build models.
Glossary
The glossary is an alphabetical list of
OSA terms. Each entry has a brief definition, a
link to the main defining page, and links to related terms.
Symbolary
The symbolary is a list of the symbols
used in the graphical representation of OSA diagrams.
Bibliography
The bibliography is a list of books,
papers, and URL's primarily about OSA. There are also some references
to other system analysis and software engineering techniques.
Updated
Fri Nov 4 10:48:00 1994
by Paul E. Black
(black@lal.cs.byu.edu)