Naked Objects is an 'open source' framework (released under the GNU GPL; see http://www.fsf.org) that makes it easy to design and build business systems using the naked objects approach (see our web site for a definition). Development is simple in that business objects are coded in Java according to a set of guidelines and one of the visual interfaces - the one provided with the framework is designed for a high-resolutions display with a two button mouse - will display those classes graphically and allow instances to be created and manipulated through common gestures such as drag and drop and right-clicking.
Robert Matthews started developing the framework in the summer of 1999 after long discussions with Richard Pawson about his research into expressive systems. At that point no tools existed for specifically developing these 'problem solving' systems and an opportunity was seen to prove that systems could be written that way and they could also be easy to write. After an initial false start and a comprehensive design session the Naked Objects (originally named Expressive Objects) framework was born. As an open ended development process the framework has significantly changed over time with considerable effort focused on the concepts of usability and the user-interface.
Load the index.html page into a web browser for details on how to install the framework, running the examples, a tutorial and some reference documentation.
If you have not yet seen the results of the framework then we recommend that you start by looking at the ECS demo. This can be downloaded seperately from the web site (see web site).
Please contribute by sending examples of how you have used the framework. Although the framework is licenced as open source software any application that you develop which uses the framework is not subject to that licence - very much like an operating system - so you are not obliged to send it in but if you think your work is a good example of Naked systems or you can provide a segment which shows a useful technique we would greatly appreciate it. Any contribution will then be made available to all the other users. To be most useful please supply the source code for your Naked Objects and not just the class files.
If you have suggestion or ideas about how the framework could be improved or extended then please email the developers with you comments. If you are interested in contributing to the framework then feel free to do so with any contribution that you think are required.
If you want to contact the original author, and now the maintainer, of the software then please email Robert Matthews at rmatthews@nakedobjects.org.
Many thanks for taking an interest in the Naked Objects framework and for any contribution you make to the effort.
Copyright (c) 2002 - 2004 nakedobjects.org
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