Object Teams: Improving Modularity for Crosscutting Collaborations

In this paper, we investigate whether module concepts for capturing multi-object collaborations can be effectively used to implement crosscutting concerns in reusable, independently developed modules for a-posteriori integration into existing systems. A new kind of collaboration module, called Object Teams, is proposed which combines the best features of existing approaches, further enhances them with concepts for expressing crosscutting relations between independent collaborations, and facilitates a-posteriori integration of such collaborations into existing systems.