This applies, in particular, in areas such as CAD, manufacturing, software development, and computer graphics. In this paper, we first show in which ways a shift in emphasis on the part-of relationship leads to analysis and design models that are easier to understand and to maintain. We then investigate the properties of part-of relationships in order to define their semantics. This is achieved by means of a categorization of part-of relationships and by associating semantic constraints with individual categories. We further suggest a precise and, compared with existing techniques, less redundant specification of constraints accompanying part-of categories based on the degree of exclusiveness and dependence of parts on composite objects.
Several examples demonstrate the applicability of the categories introduced.
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