Conceptual Modeling of Objects

TL;DR

This paper proposes an ontological framework for conceptual modeling in software engineering, emphasizing the distinction between things and objects using a thing/machine model to improve understanding and implementation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel ontological analysis of objects in UML models based on the thing/machine paradigm, enhancing conceptual clarity.

Findings

Enhanced ontological analysis of UML objects

Introduction of the thing/machine (TM) model for domain representation

Refined process for high-level domain modeling

Abstract

In this paper, we concentrate on object-related analysis in the field of general ontology of reality as related to software engineering (e.g., UML classes). Such a venture is similar to many studies in which researchers have enhanced modeling through ontological analysis of the underlying paradigm of UML models. We attempt to develop a conceptual model that consists of a foundation of things that is supplemented with a second level of designated objects. According to some researchers, the problem of the difference between things and objects is one of the most decisive issues for the conception of reality. In software engineering, objects serve two purposes: they promote understanding of the real world and provide a practical basis for computer implementation. The notion of object plays a central role in the object-oriented approach, in which other notions are viewed by decomposing them into objects and their relationships. This paper contributes to the establishment of a broader understanding of the notion of object in conceptual modeling based on things that are simultaneously machines. In this study, we explored the underlying hypothesis of conceptual models (e.g., UML) to enhance their ontological analysis by using the thing/machine (TM) model, which presents the domain as thimacs. Following the philosophical distinction between things and objects, we can specify modeling at two levels: the thinging stage and the objectification stage. Objects are thimacs that control the handleablity of their sub-parts when interacting with the outside of the object (analogous to the body parts holding together in an assemblage when interacting with the outside). The results promise a more refined modeling process to develop a high-level description of the involved domain.