Objectdriven

Objectdriven is a software design paradigm that treats objects as the primary drivers of program state and behavior. In an objectdriven system, objects encapsulate data and the methods that operate on it, but the control flow arises from interactions between autonomous objects rather than from centralized procedures. Objects act as agents that coordinate actions through message passing, events, or delegated requests.

The term objectdriven appears in some software engineering discussions as a perspective within object-oriented design that foregrounds object autonomy and domain modeling. It is not a formal standard, but rather a way of describing approaches that emphasize cooperative behavior among domain objects and explicit boundaries between components.

Core principles include encapsulation, composition over inheritance, and explicit object lifecycles. Objects are designed to be interchangeable and capable of negotiating responsibilities through well-defined interfaces. Asynchronous messaging and event-driven interactions are common, enabling decoupled communication and scalable workflows. Domain-driven design often aligns with objectdriven thinking by modeling business concepts as interacting objects.

Languages with rich object capabilities support objectdriven patterns, including object-oriented languages and frameworks that facilitate actor-like message passing, domain boundaries, and event handling. Patterns such as the actor model, domain-driven design, and event-driven architectures are frequently employed to implement objectdriven designs.

Compared with traditional OOP and data-driven approaches, objectdriven emphasizes agent-like objects that coordinate behavior rather than relying primarily on global procedures or data processing pipelines. Benefits include modularity, improved testability, and clearer domain boundaries; potential downsides include increased complexity in object networks and performance considerations from asynchronous interactions.

Example: a simplified order processing system where Order, Inventory, Payment, and Shipping objects interact via messages, each validating state, updating records, and emitting events for others to react to.

See also: Object-oriented programming, Actor model, Domain-driven design, Event-driven architecture.