Prototyping an interactive electronic book system using an object-oriented approach

Abstract

An Integrated Electronic Book (IEB) represents a complex network of integrated information and “know how” on a given subject. In the design phase of WEBS (Woven Electronic Book System), we soon realized that, because we were describing the IEB in terms of “objects” and “methods,” and because we wanted WEBS to be easily expandable and to offer a consistent user interface, we should use an object-oriented development system. This paper does not fully discuss the concept of electronic book systems, but rather describes our own experiences developing a complex software system with an object-oriented language. The first part explains our choice of an object-oriented language and software framework. The rest describes the software architecture of WEBS, which is a class hierarchy of three layers: a software framework (MacApp) layer, a system-specific layer; and an application-specific layer.