A Reflective Approach to Dynamic Software Evolution

In this paper, we present a solution that allows systems to remain active while they are evolving. Our approach goes out from the principle of separated concerns and has two steps. In the first step, we have to make sure that the system's evolvable concerns are cleanly separated. We propose aspect mining and static refactorings for separating those concerns. In a second step, we allow every concern to evolve separately. We present a preliminary reflective framework that allows dynamic evolution of separate concerns

Position Paper for RAM-SE 2004 A Reflective Approach to Dynamic Software Evolution

Abstract. In this paper, we present a solution that allows systems to remain active while they are evolving. Our approach goes out from the principle of separated concerns and has two steps. In the first step, we have to make sure that the system’s evolvable concerns are cleanly separated. We propose aspect mining and static refactorings for separating those concerns. In a second step, we allow every concern to evolve separately. We present a preliminary reflective framework that allows dynamic evolution of separate concerns. 1 Problem Statement An intrinsic property of a successful software application is its need to evolve. In order to keep an existing application up to date, we continuously need to adapt it. Usually, evolving such an application requires it to be shut down, however, because updating it at runtime is generally not possible. In some cases, this is beyond the pale. The unavailability of critical systems, such as web services, telecommunication switches, banking systems, etc. could have unacceptable financial consequences for the companies and their position in the market. Redundant systems [1] are currently the only solution available to solve this problem. Their main idea is to provide a critical system with a duplicate, that is able to take over all functions of th