This paper is about conceptual modeling of aggregates in software engineering. An aggregate is a cluster of domain objects that can be treated as a single unit. In UML, an aggregation is a type of association in which objects are configured together to form a more complex object. It has been described as one of the biggest betes noires in modeling. In spite of its widespread use, aggregation seems a troublesome concept. It is sometimes treated as part-of; however, the part-of relation is only one of many possible aggregation mechanisms and is itself problematical, partly because of its diverse semantics. The purpose of this paper is to develop a semantic assembly model that is useful to represent relationships in the domain and achieve various levels of interoperability among software. The paper contributes to ontological conceptual clarity about aggregation, based on a model called a thinging machine (TM). The TM model uses so-called thimacs (things/machines) as building blocks for describing the domain. Thus, the notion of aggregation is extended to behavioral aggregation, in which individual entities collectively behave as a unit. The results point to a promising contribution to the understanding of the notion of aggregation compared to the ontological positions that are based on substance or relation.
翻译:本文涉及软件工程综合体的概念建模。 集合是一个可以作为单一单位处理的域目标组群。 在 UML 中, 聚合是一种关联类型, 将对象组合在一起, 形成一个更复杂的对象。 它被描述为模型中最大的贝特黑白之一。 尽管它被广泛使用, 集合似乎是一个麻烦的概念。 它有时被视作是一个部分; 但是, 关系部分只是许多可能的集合机制的一部分, 其本身也是有问题的, 部分原因是它具有多种语义。 本文的目的是开发一个语义组集模型, 用于代表域内的关系, 并实现软件之间不同程度的互操作性。 该文件有助于根据一种称为定点机器(TM) 的模式对聚合的理论概念澄清性概念。 TM 模型使用所谓的硫玛克作为描述域的构件。 因此, 聚合的概念扩大到行为组合, 其部分是因为它具有问题性, 各个实体作为一个单位共同行事。 成果点指, 有助于根据一个叫式概念来理解一个有希望的聚合点。