Using Object-Oriented Database Technology to Develop a Multiple Domain Capability for Domain-Oriented Application Composition Systems

This thesis describes the design and implementation of a multiple domain capability for a domain-oriented application composition system, named Architect. The research goal was to show how object-oriented database management system (OODBMS) technology can be used to provide simultaneous access to multiple domain-oriented knowledge bases. Since the Architect system was originally designed using the object-oriented paradigm, insertion of OODBMS technology was relatively simple and many of the object-oriented concepts, such as inheritance and aggregation, proved beneficial. Inheritance was used to encapsulate domain knowledge by defining each domain as a subclass of Architect\u27s software architecture. Aggregation was used to allow applications to cross domain boundaries by nesting components from multiple domains in an application. To validate this approach, domain extensions to two existing domain models were implemented to make the domains compatible in a multiple domain environment, and applications containing objects from both the logic circuits and digital signal processing domains were successfully developed. One of the primary benefits of this research is the potential for greater reuse of objects. To satisfy new requirements, domain engineers can now search for and access objects from other domains as an alternative to implementing them in their own domains