| Author | Waralak Vongdoiwang |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.CS-05-04 |
| Subject(s) | Object-oriented methods (Computer science)
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| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Technical Science, Schoool of Advanced Technologies |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. CS-05-04 |
| Abstract | This dissertation presents a methodology for converting a problem domain text description to an object model using ontologies. The ontology is accepted as a formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualization. Ontologies provide metadata schemas, offering a controlled vocabulary of concepts. At the center of both object models and ontologies are objects within a given problem domain. The difference is that while the object model should contain explicitly shown structural dependencies between objects in a system, including their properties, relationships, events and processes, the ontologies are based on related terms only. On the other hand, the object model refers to the collection of concepts used to describe the generic characteristics of objects in object-oriented languages. We can naturally link ontologies with object models, which represent a system-oriented map of related objects, described as Abstract Data Types (ADTs). The starting point of the transformation text description to object model methodology is the Text description model (T-model), which represents a concise description of the problem domain, written in English. The T-model generates an ontological description (0-model) of the problem domain. The O-model is a straightforward useful source of information for identifying the participating objects. We use this information to build a Full matrix model (Mf-model), which represents in a simple form those objects as well as the linkages (relationships) between them. To reduce the full object matrix to a matrix (we call this model Reduced matrix: Mr-model), which contains only the basic objects represented later as ADTs containing other ADTs as attributes. We actually use the text descriptions of different Use Cases to extract different functionality of the system by the ontological engine and as a result we get the Use Case Ontological model (UO-model). The functionality, expressed by the UO-model, can be used successfully at this particular phase along with the ontological information about the objects in the Mf-model to create a Data and Function model (DF-model). We propose using business object patterns, which can be a result from ontology-based analysis. We assume that this model contains all the necessary information for building the Class Model (Cmodel), which is actually the goal of this first phase of analysis object-oriented software systems. The last model, the XML object model (XML-model) is optional but can be very important in practice because it allows the C-model to be published on the Web in a unified (XML-based) format supporting in this way the collaborative work, which is a commonly accepted technology nowadays. To present the converting model and method in a more practical way, the approach was developed and illustrated on one application, which concerned an academic problem domain. The main contribution of this research to software engineering and ontologies are models, methods, and tools for developing object model using ontologies. This dissertation addresses ontologies as a basis of a complete methodology for object modeling, including available tools, particularly CORPORUM OntoExtract and VisualText, which can help the conversion process. This dissertation also describes how the developers can implement this methodology on the base of an illustrative example. |
| Year | 2005 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. CS-05-04 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Advanced Technologies (SAT) |
| Department | Department of Information and Communications Technologies (DICT) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Computer Science (CS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Batanov, Dencho N.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Sadananda, Ramakoti;Chotchai Charoenngam;Jordanov, Ivan Nikolov; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), Thailand; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |