A system and method for integrating terminal-based legacy mainframe
applications through data stream objectification into a distributed
object system. The mainframe application's terminal data stream is
reinterpreted as a set of well-defined state objects representing any
identifiable portion or accumulation of either terminal commands or data
within the data stream. The state objects are combined with a set of
state transition rules to create a finite state machine, which accurately
describes the behavior of the application, the application of all
existing busing logic, and access to all the data elements. Any required
set of data elements can then be defined and either accessed or updated
through a variety of methodologies without redefining, re-implementing,
or migrating any existing data or business rules.