Ontological analysis of whole-part relationships in OO-models
Earlier semantic and formal analyses of whole-part (WP) relationships in object-oriented models have led to a framework, which distinguishes between primary, consequential, secondary and dependent characteristics of WP relationships. This paper interprets, validates and elaborates on that framework using an existing ontological theory and an associated formal model of objects. The revised framework confirms most of the original characteristics and suggests a number of additions and modifications. The analysis also grounds the characteristics in the framework and thereby suggests more precise definitions for some of them. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
whole-part object-oriented modelling part-whole aggregation ontological analysis and evaluation