ABSTRACT
Simulation is one of the natural applications of object-oriented programming. Object-oriented programming embodies four key concepts that result in making software systems more understandable, modifiable, and reusable. These concepts are encapsulation, message passing, dynamic binding, and inheritance. Decision support systems are software systems designed to assist managers in assembling, integrating, and using knowledge from diverse sources to make decisions about complex processes. Execution synchronization in the context of object-based decision support typically requires the ability to handle messages, events, and parallel execution of simulation objects. The object paradigm provides an intrinsically compatible approach to representing conventional simulation objects. Communication among objects is a required component of any object-based system. Individual simulation objects send messages to other objects to implement some action or get some information. Representation is a central concept for both decision and simulation systems, and modelers are generally well aware of issues of representation in simulation.
