[Modeling] Modeling an Agent Class- register your opinion

[James Odell]

On 6/13/03 8:10 AM, "f.tolman" indited:

> As to the idea to use the concept of roles as behaviours I wonder why roles
> do not fit with the method concept in UML class diagrams. Is it because you
> want to explicitly detail each role in a separate class diagram?

You you can model *part* of what you need with class diagrams.  For example,
you can indicate that Manager is a subclass of Employee, meaning that the
Manager role is a subrole of Employee.
 
> An other question is why you do not introduce a two or three level
> hierarchy. Meta-meta, meta, ...and apply the same UML notation on each
> level? In one model role#1 would appear as a method, and in another model
> (an extension of the first model) role#1 would be a class.

Sorry, I do not understand this.  A metaclass is a class whose instances are
classes.  I am not sure I understand your usage here.  Role (or RoleType)
would be a metaclass because its instances are roles such as Employee and
Manager.  Bu the instances of these classes are the entities who are
actually playing the role.  So, Employee is not a metaclass.


-Jim