A Combined Approach for Component-based Software Design

Abstract

Component-based software development enables the construction of software artefacts by assembling binary units of production, distribution and deployment, the so-called software components. Several approaches addressing 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 associated with this language. This paper presents a methodology for the design of component-based applications that combines a modelbased approach with a UML-based approach. This combined approach tackles some of the limitations associated with UML, allowing a better control of the design process. Our combined approach is illustrated using some excerpts from a case study carried out on a chat application