Coordination Contracts as Connectors in Component-Based Development

Several proposals for component-based development methods have started to appear. However, the emphasis is still very much on the development of components as opposed to the development with components. The main focus is on how to generate ideal reusable components not on how to plug existing components and specify their interactions and connections. The concept of a coordination contract (Andrade and Fiadeiro 1999; Andrade and Fiadeiro 2001; Andrade, Fiadeiro et al. 2001) has been proposed to specify a mechanism of interaction between objects based on the separation between structure, what is stable, and interaction, what is changeable. This separation supports better any change of requirements, as contracts can be replaced, added or removed dynamically, i.e. in run-time, without having to interfere with the components that they coordinate. A coordination contract corresponds to an expressive architectural connector that can be used to plug existing components. In this paper we integrate the concept of a coordination contract with component-based development and show how coordination contracts can be used to specify the connectors between components

Component-Based Development Using UML

Component-based software development (CBD) is a potential breakthrough for software engineering. Unified Modeling Language (UML) can potentially facilitate CBD design and modeling. Although many research projects concentrate on the conceptual interrelation of UML and CBD, few incorporate actual component frameworks into the discussion, which is critical for real-world software system design and modeling. This paper reviews component-based development, including the use of UML for modeling CBD. The paper then discusses the means by which UML extension mechanisms can be used to better support the popular component framework -- CORBA. Two other important component frameworks, DCOM and Web Services, are also discussed

Formal specifications in component-based development

Software engineering has entered a new era, the Internet and its associated technologies require a different conceptual framework for building and understanding software solutions. Users ask to develop applications more rapidly, and software engineers need to ensamble systems from preexisting parts. Components and Components-Based Development( CBD), are the approaches that provide solutions to these arising needs. Components are the way to encapsulate existing functionality, acquire third-party solutions, and build new services to support emerging business processes. Component-based development provides a design paradigm that is well suited to the new requirements, were the traditional design and build has been replaced by select and integrate. Within this approach, the specification of components plays a crucial role. If we are working on the development of components in order to construct a library for general use, we need to start from a concrete and complete specification of what we are going to construct. If we are assembling our application from pre-existing components, we need a precise specification of the behaviour of the component in order to select it from the library.Eje: Ingeniería de Software y Base de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Formal specifications in component-based development

Software engineering has entered a new era, the Internet and its associated technologies require a different conceptual framework for building and understanding software solutions. Users ask to develop applications more rapidly, and software engineers need to ensamble systems from preexisting parts. Components and Components-Based Development( CBD), are the approaches that provide solutions to these arising needs. Components are the way to encapsulate existing functionality, acquire third-party solutions, and build new services to support emerging business processes. Component-based development provides a design paradigm that is well suited to the new requirements, were the traditional design and build has been replaced by select and integrate. Within this approach, the specification of components plays a crucial role. If we are working on the development of components in order to construct a library for general use, we need to start from a concrete and complete specification of what we are going to construct. If we are assembling our application from pre-existing components, we need a precise specification of the behaviour of the component in order to select it from the library.Eje: Ingeniería de Software y Base de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

mPower: A component-based development framework for multi-agent systems to support business processes

One of the obstacles preventing the widespread adoption of multi-agent systems in industry is the difficulty of implementing heterogeneous interactions among participating agents via asynchronous messages. This difficulty arises from the need to understand how to combine elements of various content languages, ontologies, and interaction protocols in order to construct meaningful and appropriate messages. In this paper mPower, a component-based layered framework for easing the development of multi-agent systems, is described, and the facility for customising the components for reuse in similar domains is explained. The framework builds on the JADE-LEAP platform, which provides a homogeneous layer over diverse operating systems and hardware devices, and allows ubiquitous deployment of applications built on multi-agent systems both in wired and wireless environments. The use of the framework to develop mPowermobile , a multi-agent system to support mobile workforces, is reported

A Combined Component-Based Approach for the Design of Distributed Software Systems

Component-based software development enables the construction of software artefacts by assembling binary units of production, distribution and deployment, the so-called components. Several approaches to component-based development have been proposed recently. Most of these approaches are based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML). UML has been increasingly used in component-based development, despite some shortcomings of this language. This paper presents a methodology for the design of component-based applications that combines a model-based approach with a UML-based approach. This combined approach tackles some of the limitations of UML, allowing a better control of the design proces