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European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming

ECOOP 1997: ECOOP'97 — Object-Oriented Programming pp 419–443Cite as

Feature-oriented programming: A fresh look at objects

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1241))

Abstract

We propose a new model for flexible composition of objects from a set of features. Features are similar to (abstract) subclasses, but only provide the core functionality of a (sub)class. Overwriting other methods is viewed as resolving feature interactions and is specified separately for two features at a time. This programming model allows to compose features (almost) freely in a way which generalizes inheritance and aggregation. For a set of n features, an exponential number of different feature combinations is possible, assuming a quadratic number of interaction resolutions. We present the feature model as an extension of Java and give two translations to Java, one via inheritance and the other via aggregation. We further discuss parameterized features, which work nicely with our feature model and can be translated into Pizza, an extension of Java.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Informatik, Technische Universität München, 80290, München, Germany

    Christian Prehofer

Authors
  1. Christian Prehofer
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Editor information

Mehmet Akşit Satoshi Matsuoka

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Prehofer, C. (1997). Feature-oriented programming: A fresh look at objects. In: Akşit, M., Matsuoka, S. (eds) ECOOP'97 — Object-Oriented Programming. ECOOP 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1241. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0053389

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0053389

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-63089-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69127-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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