PhD
Title: Object-Oriented Design Heuristics, University of Nottingham, 1997.[pdf]
The thesis set out to bring techniques for building maintainable object-oriented (OO) software closer to the developer in the form of design heuristics. Heuristics document common design problems that developers encounter during software development.
The first deliverable of this thesis was an heuristic catalogue that provided a comprehensive reference point for both novice and expert developers to apply well-documented techniques for building maintainable software.
In light of the inter-dependencies that exists between heuristics and the complex nature of large object-oriented systems, the second deliverable was a prototypical system entitled TOAD (Teaching Object Analysis and Design) that automated heuristic deployment. TOAD is a highly interactive design aid for locating potential problems in OO software and presenting design alternatives that are applied at the user’s discretion. TOAD was used by my undergraduate students as part of their OO curriculum at the University of Nottingham between 1995-1997.
Doctorate Publications
Gibbon, C.A, PhD Thesis, Object-Oriented Design Heuristics, University of Nottingham, 1997 [pdf]
Gibbon, C.A. and Higgins, C.A., The case for design heuristics in OO curricula, Educators’ Symposium, OOPSLA’97, October 1997.
Gibbon, C.A. and Higgins, C.A., An informal approach of software design evaluation, INSPIRE’97, BCS Quality, Gothenburg, 18-19 August, 1997.
Gibbon, C.A. and Higgins, C.A., Towards a learner-centred approach to testing object-oriented designs, Proceedings of the Asian-Pacific Software Engineering Conference, Seoul, South Korea, December 4-7, 1996
Gibbon, C.A., Lovegrove, G. and Higgins, C.A., Tools and techniques to assist OO education, Educators’ Symposium, OOPSLA’96, San Jose, California, 1996.
Gibbon, C.A., Evaluating and visualising object-oriented designs, Doctoral Symposium, OOPSLA’96, San Jose, California, 1996.
Gibbon, C.A. and Higgins, C.A., Teaching object-oriented design with heuristics, SIGPlan Notices, 31(7), July 1996, pages 12-16.
Gibbon, C.A., Modelling system dynamics with classes, Technical Report, NOTTCS-TR-97-2, Department of Computer Science, University of Nottingham, ENGLAND.
