An object model for shared data

Abstract

The classical object model supports private data within objects and clean interfaces among objects, and, by definition, does not permit sharing of data among arbitrary objects. This is a problem for certain real-world applications, where the same data logically belongs to multiple objects and may be distributed over multiple nodes on the network. Rather than give up the advantages of encapsulated objects in modeling real-world entities, a new object model that supports distribution of computation units from information-hiding concerns is proposed. A new object model is introduced, a motivating example from the financial services domain is described, and a new language based on the model is presented.<>