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In computing, object model has two related but distinct meanings:
The properties of objects in general in a specific computer programming language, technology, notation or methodology that uses them. Examples are the object models of Java, the Component Object Model (COM), or Object-Modeling Technique (OMT). Such object models are usually defined using concepts such as class, generic function, message, inheritance, polymorphism, and encapsulation. There is an extensive literature on formalized object models as a subset of the formal semantics of programming languages.
A collection of objects or classes through which a program can examine and manipulate some specific parts of its world. In other words, the object-oriented interface to some service or system. Such an interface is said to be the object model of the represented service or system. For example, the Document Object Model (DOM) is a collection of objects that represent a page in a web browser, used by script programs to examine and dynamically change the page. There is a Microsoft Excel object model [1] for controlling Microsoft Excel from another program, and the ASCOM Telescope Driver is an object model for controlling an astronomical telescope.
An object model consists of the following important features:
Object reference
Objects can be accessed via object references. To invoke a method in an object, the object reference and method name are given, together with any arguments.
Interfaces
An interface provides a definition of the signature of a set of methods without specifying their implementation. An object will provide a particular interface if its class contains code that implement the method of that interface. An interface also defines types that can be used to declare the type of variables or parameters and return values of methods.
Actions
An action in object-oriented programming (OOP) is initiated by an object invoking a method in another object. An invocation can include additional information needed to carry out the method. The receiver executes the appropriate method and then returns control to the invoking object, sometimes supplying a result.
Exceptions
Programs can encounter various errors and unexpected conditions of varying seriousness. During the execution of the method many different problems may be discovered. Exceptions provide a clean way to deal with error conditions without complicating the code. A block of code may be defined to throw an exception whenever particular unexpected conditions or errors arise. This means that control passes to another block of code that catches the exception.
Component ObjectModel (COM) is a binary-interface standard for software components introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable inter-process...
The Document ObjectModel (DOM) is a cross-platform and language-independent interface that treats an HTML or XML document as a tree structure wherein...
Browser ObjectModel (BOM) is a browser-specific convention referring to all the objects exposed by the web browser. Unlike the Document ObjectModel, there...
as UML, ORM or OMT for objectmodelling, ITE, or IDEF1X for Entity Relationship Modelling. In UML notation, the conceptual model is often described with...
Distributed Component ObjectModel (DCOM) is a proprietary Microsoft technology for communication between software components on networked computers. DCOM...
an object-oriented model although the systems that use the CORBA do not have to be object-oriented. CORBA is an example of the distributed object paradigm...
Network model Relational model Entity–relationship model Enhanced entity–relationship modelObjectmodel Document model Entity–attribute–value model Star...
generally similar to the Document ObjectModel used in XML, although with some differences in access patterns. Each object could have elements and properties;...
System ObjectModel (SOM) is an object-oriented shared library system developed by IBM. DSOM, a distributed version based on CORBA, allowed objects on different...
Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) – cross-platform-language model Component ObjectModel (COM) – Microsoft Windows only cross-language model...
computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of a surface of an object (inanimate or living)...
The Text ObjectModel (TOM) is a Microsoft Windows API that provides developers with object-based rich text manipulation interfaces. It is implemented...
Project ObjectModel (POM) in a pom.xml file. Example file: <project> <!-- model version is always 4.0.0 for Maven 2.x POMs --> <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>...
associated with Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams. The coloring system indicates which of several archetypes apply to the UML object. UML typically identifies...
object is not a DTO. The two terms have been conflated by Sun/Java community in the past. For pattern model-view-viewmodel, the data transfer object can...