Microsoft Word OpenIssuesInOO. doc

2. 

Modeling versus reuse 

In the Scandinavian tradition, the focus has always been on modeling and design. Simula 

was originally developed as a simulation language and in simulation it is essential to be able 

to model processes from the real world. Thus, the development of language constructs for 

representing real world phenomena and concepts has been central in the design of Simula 

and BETA. Efficient implementation and software engineering techniques were also 

important. In comparison with other language projects from the sixties and seventies, 

modeling and design seem to have been more important in the Simula and BETA 

development. 

It is well known that the initial breakthrough for object-orientation came with Smalltalk 

[GR83] and the industrial breakthrough with C++ [Str86]. Since then object-orientation has 

entered the area of data bases and methodologies. In the same period there seem to have 

been a major change of focus: