12th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming Brussels, Belgium, July 20 - 24, 1998
	Tutorial T14

Object Discovery - a Process for Developing Medium-Sized Object-Oriented Applications

Do you ever get the impression that object-oriented methods offer little direction and rely too much on the intuition and expertise of the developer team? Have you experienced failure in applying a so-called "method", only to find that it was merely a set of notations? The Discovery Method is a more directed approach, which selects and sequences known techniques according to their ability to involve the client, focus the mind of the developer, provide visual feedback, facilitate discovery and invention of objects and support systematic cross-checking. We ask questions like: Why was this technique developed? What aspect does it accentuate? How does it direct our attention? What can we measure, evaluate and cross-check? How can we incorporate Patterns, Frameworks and Libraries? Participants will take away an object-oriented process that they can apply immediately to medium-sized projects. Discovery is supportive of UML notations and the OPEN process.

Tony Simons is a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, where he has taught Smalltalk, Eiffel, C++ and analysis and design methods for over ten years. His early research work in the Speech and Hearing Research Group focused on object-oriented models of speech events and low-level phonetic decoding. He later completed a PhD in object-oriented type theory and language design. Currently a member of the Verification and Testing Research Group, his research interests include object-oriented languages, analysis and design methods, type theory, verification and testing. Tony has given tutorials previously at ECOOP '93 and '97; at OOPSLA '93 and '94 and served on the OOPSLA '95 programme committee. He is a regional editor for Object-Oriented Systems, chairman of the OPEN consortium's working group on technical process and the chief architect behind the Discovery Method. Tony is a co-author of the forthcoming book: The OPEN Toolbox of Techniques, to be published by Addison Wesley in 1998; and is currently working on a book Object Discovery and Invention.