Power system engineers are quite familiar with modeling
large, diverse engineering systems. The number of different
components that comprise a systeu coupled with the great
variety of models, attributes, and fimctions for those
components, makes power system analysis a prime candidate
for 00P-based software development. This argument holds
for managing and performing calculations on power system
da~ but it is particularly relevant when it comes to
presenting that data to the user. Effective communication of
power system characteristics and trends to the user requires
providing poignant visualization tools accessible through a
convenient graphical user interface. The only praetieal way
to fashion such technology is to take an 00P approach to
sofhvare development. Thus, it is crucial that power
engineering students be formally exposed to the ideas,
implementatio~ and benefits of object-oriented design.