On the Addition of Properties to Components

The design of components for open systems has led to the study of new systems and their properties, like the independently extensible systems. Most of these systems try to facilitate the design of components by incorporating new features, services and utilities that solve the basic problems of open systems: heterogeneity, partial knowledge of the components, and dynamic changes in the system's configuration. However, our approach is not focused on the system, but on the components themselves. The present paper defines the properties that components of those systems should have, and introduces a components' design methodology based on the modular addition of properties