Implicit versus explicit characterization of complex entities and events

A wide variety of relationships and behavioral dependencies can be seen abstractly as associative knowledge amongst individuals of the same complexity. Conversely, part-whole knowledge defines the relationships and behavioral dependencies between individuals of different complexity, arranged in part-whole hierarchies. Most of the current modeling paradigms do not correlate the two kinds of knowledge. It can be argued, rather, that an ontological dependency exists between associative and part-whole knowledge. Complex structured entities, referred to in the paper as wholes, are then required to explicitly encapsulate associative knowledge, thus providing units of reuse and stability. The principle is applied to behavioral modeling in Statecharts, where entity synchronization represents the associative knowledge used to compose complex behaviors from simpler ones. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.