Class Composition in FACE, a Framework Adaptive Composition Environment

Creating applications using object-oriented frameworks is often difficult, since subclassing plays a too important role. Subclassing is a “white-box” form of reuse, and thus requires the developer to understand the underlying implementation. In the approach described in this paper, class composition is introduced as a form of black-box class reuse. It may be seen to extend the concept of parameterized (generic) classes, especially since it allows mutual relationships as parameters. We illustrate class composition on basis of a design pattern.