Chapter 1

Object Oriented System

Development with
VB .NET

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 Objectives

In this chapter, you will:

• Learn about OO development and VB .NET
• Understand object-oriented concepts
• Recognize the benefits of OO development

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 Introduction

• Object-oriented information system development

involves analysis, design, and implementation of
information systems using:
– Object-oriented programming languages
– Object-oriented technologies
– Object-oriented techniques
• Object-oriented information system development
is usually referred to as “OO” or as “the OO
approach”

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 Introduction

• When developing business systems, OO means

using an:
– Object-oriented approach to system analysis
(OOA)
– Object-oriented approach to system design (OOD)
– Object-oriented approach to programming (OOP)

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 Understanding OO Development and
VB .NET
• The object-oriented approach defines a system
as a collection of objects that work together to
accomplish tasks
– The objects can carry out actions when asked
– Each object maintains its own data

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 Understanding OO Development and
VB .NET
• The procedural approach defines a system as a
set of procedures that interact with data
– The data are maintained in files separate from the
procedures
– When the procedure executes, data files are
created or updated

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Understanding OO Development and
VB .NET

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 Object-Oriented Programming

• Object-oriented programming started in the 1960s

with the development of the Simula programming
language
• A major milestone in the history of OO was the
development of the SmallTalk programming
language in the early 1970s
• Additional object-oriented programming
languages include Objective-C, Eiffel, and most
notably C++

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 Object-Oriented Programming

• In 1995, Sun Microsystems introduced Java as a

pure OO language, which has:
– Syntax similar to C++
– Features that make it appropriate for Internet
applications
• Microsoft immediately released a version of Java
called J++

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 Object-Oriented Programming

• Microsoft recently released a more direct

competitor to Java as part of the .NET framework,
named C#
• With the release of VB .NET, Microsoft hopes to
dominate OO and Web-based development

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The Microsoft .NET Framework and VB
.NET
• The .NET framework has two main components:
– .NET common language runtime
– .NET framework class library
• The .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR)
manages code at execution
• Developers can use a variety of programming
languages that the CLR environment can compile
and execute

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The Microsoft .NET Framework and VB
.NET
• The .NET framework class library provides
reusable classes of objects that work with the
CLR
• A programmer using any of the .NET
programming languages can use these classes
• VB .NET is a full-blown OO programming
language that shares the common language
runtime and .NET framework class library with
the other .NET languages

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 Object-Oriented Analysis and Design

• The standard object-oriented analysis and design

modeling notation is the Unified Modeling
Language (UML)
• UML assumes a model-driven approach to
analysis and design

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Object-Oriented Analysis and Design

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 Object-Oriented Analysis and Design

• The system development life cycle (SDLC) is a

project management framework
• It defines project phases and activities within
phases
• The phases typically are named:
– Planning
– Analysis
– Design
– Implementation
– Support

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 Object-Oriented Analysis and Design

• OO developers usually follow an iterative

approach to analysis, design, and
implementation
• Prototyping and joint application development
(JAD) are usually part of OO development
– Prototyping: creating a working model of one or
more parts of a system to give users a chance to
see and evaluate something concrete
– During JAD sessions, key system stakeholders
and decision makers work together to define
system requirements and designs

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 Object-Oriented Analysis and Design

• The following are also required when using OO

development, as they are in traditional system
development:
– Project management
– Interviewing and data collection
– User interface design
– Testing
– Conversion techniques

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 Understanding Object-Oriented
Concepts
• Object-oriented development assumes that a
system is a collection of objects that interact to
accomplish tasks

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 Objects, Attributes, and Methods

• An object is a thing that has attributes and

behaviors
• A GUI object uses graphics, such as a button or
label, to represent part of a system
• A GUI object has attributes, which are
characteristics that have values
– size, shape, color, location, …
• GUI objects also have behaviors or methods,
which describe what an object can do

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 Objects, Attributes, and Methods

• OO systems also contain problem domain

objects, which are specific to a business
application
• For example: a business system that processes
orders includes:
– Customer objects
– Order objects
– Product objects
• Problem domain objects also have attributes and
methods

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 Object Interactions and Messages

• Objects interact by sending messages to each

other, asking another object to invoke, or carry
out, one of its methods
• Objects interacting by sending messages to carry
out tasks is the main concept of OOA and OOD

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Encapsulation and Information Hiding

• Encapsulation: an object has attributes and

methods combined into one unit
• By combining attributes and methods, the
programmer does not need to know the internal
structure of the object to send messages to it
• Information hiding: Using encapsulation to hide
the internal structure of objects, protecting them
from corruption

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Encapsulation and Information Hiding

• Each object also has a unique identity

• An object’s identity must be known for sending a
message to it
• The object’s identity is usually stored as a
memory address
• Persistent objects are those that are defined as
available for use over time

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Classes, Instances, and Associations

• The class defines what all objects of the class

represent
• Objects can be referred to as instances of the
class
• When an object is created for the class, it is
common to say the class is instantiated
• The terms “instance” and “object” are often used
interchangeably

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Classes, Instances, and Associations

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 Classes, Instances, and Associations

• Objects maintain association relationships

among themselves
• Some association relationships are one-to-one,
and some associations are one-to-many
• UML refers to the number of associations as the
multiplicity of the association

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Classes, Instances, and Associations

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 Inheritance and Polymorphism

• In inheritance, one class of objects takes on

characteristics of another class and extends
them
• For example:
– An object belonging to the Customer class might
also be something more general, such as a person
– If the Person class is already defined, the
Customer class can be defined by extending the
Person class to take on more specific attributes
and methods required of a customer

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 Inheritance and Polymorphism

• In the previous example:

– The Person class is a superclass
– The Customer class is the subclass

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Types of Inheritance

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 Inheritance and Polymorphism

• The result of extending general classes into more

specific subclasses is referred to as a
generalization/specialization hierarchy
• It is also called an inheritance hierarchy
• Polymorphism: the way different objects can
respond in their own way to the same message
• Classes are polymorphic if their instances can
respond to the same message

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 Recognizing the Benefits of OO
Development
• The two main reasons why the object-oriented
approach is being used in information system
development are:
– Naturalness
– Reuse

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 Objects Are More Natural

• Naturalness: people usually think about their

world in terms of objects
• When people discuss system requirements, it is
natural to define the classes of objects involved
• OOA, OOD, and OOP all involve modeling classes
of objects – so the focus remains on objects
throughout the development process

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 Classes of Objects Can Be Reused

• The ability to reuse classes and objects is an

important benefit of object-oriented development
• Classes and objects can be invented once and
used many times
• Object-oriented programming languages come
with class libraries that contain predefined
classes most programmers need
– Programmers use these classes to create their own
objects

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 Summary

• Object-oriented information system development

includes object-oriented analysis (OOA), object-
oriented design (OOD), and object-oriented
programming (OOP)
• Object-oriented (OO) systems are viewed as
collections of interacting objects that accomplish
tasks
• The Microsoft .NET framework is a computing
platform that simplifies development of OO
applications

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 Summary

• A model-driven approach using UML diagrams

defines requirements and designs prior to
programming
• The benefits of OO development include
naturalness and reuse
• This text is organized into five parts and explains
the three-tier design approach to OO
development

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