Implementing Associations with Ada

Object-oriented programming is a mechanism used to construct modular systems made of reusable components. Objects that compose a system are necessarily related. This is the reason why the relationships between the objects are one of the major factors in the development of software. Unfortunately, of all the relationships between the objects, the associations are often left aside. Therefore, we investigated a way to implement associations, using a language that does not provide a built-in construct for that purpose. We start by giving a definition of associations and then an implementation-oriented taxonomy of the different kinds of associations. Then, according to this taxonomy, we propose a way to implement the associations using Ada 83. We also show, for a particular case, how Ada 9X can be used. The solutions proposed allow to translate all the semantics attached to associations while preserving the integrity of the system to develop. Résumé La programmation par objets est un mécan..