Basic unit of semantic modeling, expressing a concept or describing an object
Introduction to the notion
The objective of the semantic class is to capture the semantics linked to business objects. This precaution will ensure that there is no confusion with the software aspect class. The semantic class enables us to restore the semantics attached to a real object to a set of similar objects or a concept.
Candidate classes are those classes that the modeler is considering writing into the model, to capture part of the meaning. They often correspond to a substantive used in speech. Not all candidate classes will be retained. Many will be eliminated because they do not carry any characteristic properties. A class retained by the semantic model must have one of the following conditions:
- It is an information support.
- Its instances behave in a specific manner or supply services.
- The class constitutes an indispensable node in the model’s structure.