<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
,	O
or	O
Integrated	O
DEFinition	O
for	O
Object-Oriented	B-Application
Design	I-Application
,	O
is	O
an	O
object-oriented	B-Application
design	I-Application
modeling	B-Language
language	I-Language
for	O
the	O
design	O
of	O
component-based	O
client/server	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
method	O
is	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
IDEF	O
family	O
of	O
modeling	B-Language
languages	I-Language
in	O
the	O
field	O
of	O
systems	O
and	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
method	O
is	O
a	O
graphically	O
oriented	O
methodology	O
for	O
the	O
design	O
of	O
object-oriented	B-Language
software	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
object-oriented	B-Language
programming	I-Language
paradigm	O
provides	O
the	O
developer	O
with	O
an	O
abstract	O
view	O
of	O
his	O
program	O
as	O
composed	O
of	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
state	O
maintaining	O
objects	O
which	O
define	O
the	O
behavior	O
of	O
the	O
program	O
by	O
the	O
protocol	O
of	O
their	O
interactions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IDEF4	B-Application
method	O
multi-dimensional	O
approach	O
to	O
object-oriented	B-Language
software	O
system	O
design	O
consists	O
of	O
the	O
following	O
items	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
development	O
of	O
IDEF4	B-Application
came	O
from	O
the	O
recognition	O
that	O
the	O
modularity	O
,	O
maintainability	O
and	O
code	O
reusability	O
that	O
results	O
from	O
the	O
object-oriented	B-Language
programming	I-Language
paradigm	O
can	O
be	O
realized	O
in	O
traditional	O
data	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
proven	O
ability	O
of	O
the	O
object-oriented	B-Language
programming	I-Language
paradigm	O
to	O
support	O
data	O
level	O
integration	O
in	O
large	O
complex	O
distributed	B-Architecture
systems	I-Architecture
is	O
also	O
a	O
major	O
factor	O
in	O
the	O
widespread	O
interest	O
in	O
this	O
technology	O
from	O
the	O
traditional	O
data	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
community	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
was	O
developed	O
as	O
a	O
design	O
tool	O
for	O
software	O
designers	O
who	O
use	O
object-oriented	B-Language
languages	I-Language
such	O
as	O
the	O
Common	B-Application
Lisp	I-Application
Object	I-Application
System	I-Application
,	O
Flavors	B-Language
,	O
Smalltalk	B-Application
,	O
Objective-C	B-Language
,	O
C++	B-Language
and	O
others	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
effective	O
usage	O
of	O
the	O
object-oriented	B-Language
paradigm	O
requires	O
a	O
different	O
thought	O
process	O
than	O
used	O
with	O
conventional	O
procedural	O
or	O
database	O
languages	O
,	O
standard	O
methodologies	O
such	O
as	O
structure	B-Application
charts	I-Application
,	O
data	B-Application
flow	I-Application
diagrams	I-Application
,	O
and	O
traditional	O
data	O
design	O
models	O
(	O
hierarchical	O
,	O
relational	O
,	O
and	O
network	O
)	O
are	O
not	O
sufficient	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
seeks	O
to	O
provide	O
the	O
necessary	O
facilities	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
object-oriented	B-Application
design	I-Application
decision	O
making	O
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
uses	O
an	O
object-oriented	B-Application
design	I-Application
method	O
or	O
procedure	O
that	O
is	O
very	O
similar	O
to	O
Rumbaugh	O
’s	O
Object	O
Method	O
Technique	O
and	O
Schlaer/Mellor	O
’	O
s	O
Object-Oriented	B-Language
Analysis	O
and	O
Design	O
(	O
OOA/OOD	O
)	O
technique	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
is	O
specifically	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
compatible	O
with	O
other	O
IDEF	O
methods	O
,	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
includes	O
a	O
design	O
rationale	O
component	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
IDEF4	B-Application
,	O
a	O
design	O
starts	O
with	O
the	O
analysis	O
of	O
requirements	O
and	O
takes	O
as	O
input	O
the	O
domain	O
objects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
domain	O
objects	O
are	O
encoded	O
in	O
their	O
equivalent	O
IDEF4	B-Application
form	O
and	O
marked	O
as	O
domain	O
objects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
computational	O
objects	O
are	O
developed	O
for	O
these	O
objects	O
,	O
they	O
are	O
marked	O
as	O
“	O
transitional	O
”	O
and	O
finally	O
as	O
“	O
completed.	O
”	O
The	O
level	O
of	O
completion	O
of	O
an	O
IDEF4	B-Application
design	O
is	O
determined	O
by	O
setting	O
measures	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
status	O
,	O
level	O
,	O
and	O
model	O
dimensions	O
of	O
individual	O
artifacts	O
in	O
the	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
is	O
an	O
iterative	O
procedure	O
involving	O
partitioning	O
,	O
classification/specification	O
,	O
assembly	O
,	O
simulation	O
,	O
and	O
re-partitioning	O
activities	O
,	O
see	O
figure	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
’s	O
defines	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
object	B-Language
oriented	I-Language
concepts	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Domains	O
:	O
IDEF4	B-Application
projects	O
are	O
implemented	O
in	O
a	O
domain	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Inheritance	O
:	O
A	O
specific	O
type	O
of	O
relationship	O
used	O
in	O
object-oriented	B-Language
technology	I-Language
is	O
inheritance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Encapsulation	O
and	O
Information	O
Hiding	O
:	O
Encapsulation	O
and	O
information	O
hiding	O
are	O
two	O
object-oriented	B-Language
concepts	O
that	O
are	O
most	O
easily	O
understood	O
when	O
discussed	O
in	O
terms	O
of	O
interactions	O
between	O
objects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IDEF4	B-Application
Method	O
assumes	O
that	O
the	O
domain	O
objects	O
have	O
been	O
identified	O
through	O
Object-Oriented	B-Language
Domain	O
Analysis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Methods	O
such	O
as	O
IDEF1	B-Application
,	O
IDEF5	O
,	O
IDEF3	O
,	O
SA/SD	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
perform	O
domain	O
analysis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
IDEF4	B-Application
practitioners	O
should	O
be	O
aware	O
of	O
how	O
objects	O
are	O
identified	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
design	O
process	O
may	O
reveal	O
deficiencies	O
in	O
the	O
Object-Oriented	B-Language
Analysis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
had	O
defined	O
five	O
types	O
of	O
classes	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
users	O
design	O
in	O
three	O
distinct	O
layers	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
distinguishes	O
between	O
IDEF4	B-Application
artifacts	O
newly	O
created	O
from	O
the	O
application	O
domain	O
,	O
artifacts	O
in	O
transition	O
to	O
design	O
specification	O
,	O
and	O
artifacts	O
that	O
have	O
been	O
specified	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
applied	O
to	O
create	O
the	O
design	O
specification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Any	O
design	O
artifact	O
in	O
IDEF4	B-Application
can	O
be	O
marked	O
as	O
domain	O
,	O
transition	O
,	O
or	O
complete	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
uses	O
three	O
design	O
models	O
and	O
a	O
design	O
rationale	O
component	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
IDEF4	B-Application
provides	O
a	O
broad	O
range	O
of	O
design	O
features	O
–	O
from	O
generic	O
to	O
specific	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
significantly	O
reduces	O
the	O
burden	O
on	O
designers	O
by	O
allowing	O
them	O
to	O
immediately	O
capture	O
new	O
design	O
concepts	O
with	O
IDEF4	B-Application
design	O
features	O
,	O
even	O
if	O
these	O
design	O
concepts	O
have	O
not	O
yet	O
been	O
explored	O
in	O
detail	O
.	O
</s>
