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overview of the document. Interface documentation guidelines and coding con-
ventions are the single most important factor that can improve communication
between developers during object design. A few examples of conventions include
( ee.hawii.edu ) :
• Classes are named with singular nouns.
• Methods are named with verb phrases, fields, and parameters with noun
phrases
• Error status is returned via exception, not a return value.
The second section of the ODD, package(s), describes the decomposition of
subsystems into packages and the file organization of the code. This portion details
exactly where to find the files and how the subsystems are divided logically. This
is important before moving to section three where the details of the classes
themselves are covered.
The third section, class interfaces, describes the classes and their public
interfaces. This includes an overview of each class, its dependencies with other
classes and packages, its public attributes, and, finally, operations or exceptions
they can raise.
The initial version of the ODD can be written soon after the subsystem
decomposition is stable. The ODD is updated every time new interfaces become
available or existing ones are revised. In Java, the javadoc tool generates webpages
from the source code comments. Developers annotate interfaces and class decla-
rations with tagged comments.
For a system of useful size, the ODD represents a large amount of information
that can translate to several hundreds or thousands of pages of documentation.
Moreover, the ODD evolves rapidly during object design and integration, as
developers understand better other subsystem's needs and find faults with their
specifications (Bruegge and Dutiot 2004 ).
8.6.2 Roles in OOD
Object design is characterized by a large number of participants accessing and
modifying a large amount of information. To ensure that changes to interfaces are
documented and communicated in an orderly manner, several roles collaborate to
control, communicate, and implement changes. These include the members of the
architecture team who are responsible for inter-team communication and config-
uration managers who are responsible for tracking change. The following are the
roles assigned during object design:
• The core architect develops coding guidelines and conventions before object
design starts. The core architect is also responsible for ensuring consistency
with prior decisions documented in the System Design Document (SDD) and
Requirements Analysis Document (RAD).
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