Object model

An object model defines static object structures in terms of objects, classes (types), associations and connections, and dynamic object behaviour in terms of signals and state transitions.

These are models that describe how a system or component is composed from objects, connections and relationships, and how each object behaves.

The term object model is a bit misleading, as object models normally describe general types (sometimes called classes) and object sets rather than individual objects. A type is a concept. According to the classical notion of a concept, it is characterised by:

• extension, the collection of phenomena that the concept covers;
• intention, a collection of properties that in some way characterise the phenomena in the extension of the concept;
• designation, the collection of names by which the concept is known.

Representing concepts by types and phenomena by instances of these types follows this pattern: the instances belong to the extension, the type definition gives the intention and the type name represents the designation. The term object model as we use it in TIMe covers objects as well as types.

Object models are constructive in the sense that they describe how an entity is composed from parts, be it abstract or concrete.

In TIMe, every object model should have associated property models.