Paradigmatic issues in software development: the case of object-orientation

It is increasingly manifest that a software crisis exists. Such a crisis is often followed by the emergence of a new paradigm. While there are many who believe that object-orientation (OO) is a fundamentally different approach to software development, there are others who assert that the tenets of OO have been around for a very long time. Claims that OO is a new paradigm, in contrast to the structured methods, abound, but these assertions have neither been substantiated theoretically nor tested empirically. Further, the question of whether the field of OO is growing at a rate that is sufficiently high for it to be deemed an emerging technology is yet to be addressed. The purpose of this study was to resolve both these issues. The research also examines the ontological, epistemological, and methodological dimensions of both OO and the traditional approach (e.g., structured) to software development, with a view to establishing their paradigmatic differences. Kuhn's model of paradigms was the conceptual basis for this research. Author Co-Citation Analysis (ACA), a form of bibliometrics, was used in this study. A total of 31 authors was used in the study and co-citation counts for each author pair, during the period 1980-1993, were obtained. The frequency of co-citations between authors was used as a measure of the degree of consensus. Cluster analysis, factor analysis, and multidimensional scaling (MDS) were used to validate the cluster compositions. The results suggest that OO is conceptually different from structured methods. The proposition that OO is an emerging technology was tested independently on two sources of data. The growth rate of OO indicated in this study suggests that OO is no longer in the preparadigmatic phase, but is now normal science. The implications and challenges of a new paradigm are explored. Suggestions for extending the study and directions for future research are also presented.