Building an object-oriented environment for document processing

An object-oriented approach to the development of an environment for document processing and analysis is presented. The use of object-oriented techniques may play an important role in the domain we are considering. Document processing systems built today are different from what they were a few years ago: they are larger and more complex. The need of achieving effective and stable systems has gained higher priority. Furthermore, recent systems are expected to devote a deeper attention to the user's perspective. A general model that can be suitably adopted for building such systems is outlined, and it is shown how the object-oriented paradigm can provide a unifying framework for developing the experimental environment. Methodological steps involved are illustrated and a preliminary version of the environment is described.