Graphical configuration programming

2006 Sixth International Conference on Quality Software (QSIC'06)

2006

The engineering of distributed software is a complex task which requires a rigorous approach. Software architectural (structural) concepts and principles are highly beneficial in specifying, designing, analysing, constructing and evolving distributed software. A rigorous architectural approach dictates formalisms and techniques that are compositional, components that are context independent and systems that can be constructed and evolved incrementally. This extended abstract overviews some of the underlying reasons for adopting this architectural approach and provides a brief "rational history" [1] of our research work, together with some selected references.

Section: A Brief History Of Our Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributed Software Engineering: a Rigorous Architectural Approach

2006 Sixth International Conference on Quality Software (QSIC'06)

2006

“…We believe that our approach, with its clear separation of structural management and application concerns, is very promising in these regards. Some small case studies have been prototyped and tested in the Conic environment for distributed programming which provides both textual and graphical facilities for performing dynamic configuration changes [16]. It now remains to be further refined, formalized, and tested on larger case studies.…”

Section: Further Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolving philosophers problem: dynamic change management

IIEEE Trans. Software Eng.

Magee

1990

Self Cite

639

471

Abstract-One of the major challenges in the provision of distributed systems is the accommodation of evolutionary change. This may involve modifications or extensions to the system which were not envisaged at design time. Furthermore, in many application domains there is a requirement that the system accommodate such change dynamically, without stopping or disturbing the operation of those parts of the system unaffected by the change. Since the description of software structure (components and interconnections) provides a clear means for both system comprehension and construction, it seems appropriate that changes should also be specified as structural change, in terms of component creation /deletion and connection/disconnection. These changes are then applied to the operational system itself to produce the modified system. This paper presents a model for dynamic change management which separates structural concerns from component application concerns. This separation of concerns permits the formulation of general structural rules for change at the configuration level without the need to consider application state, and the specification of application component actions without prior knowledge of the actual structural changes which may be introduced. In addition, the changes can be applied in such a way as to leave the modified system in a consistent state, and cause no disturbance to the unaffected part of the operational system. The model is applied to an example problem, "evolving philosophers." The principles described in this model have been implemented and tested in the Conic environment for distributed systems.

“…Descriptions of the constituent software components and their interconnection patterns provide a clear and concise level at which to specify and design systems, and can be used directly by construction tools to generate the system itself. This approach has been variously referred to as "programming-in-the-large" [3], component-based system building using module interconnection languages [9,20], and "configuration programming" [15,18]. Furthermore, evolution of the system can be achieved by making extensions or changes to the system configuration by the addition or replacement of components [16].…”

Section: Learning From Software Configurationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 9 illustrates the status monitoring facilities available via ConicDraw, in which the current component name and type, machine location and type, and status and supporting OS are indicated for each component. A full description of ConicDraw is given in [15].…”

Section: Tool Support: Graphical Configuration Monitoring and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

A configurable framework for method and tool integration

Software Development Environments and CASE Technology

Finkelsteiin

1991

There is an urgent need to provide a sound generic framework for method and tool integration, where many differing notations are used, software development is distributed and management support for the software development process is provided. This paper argues that there is much to be learnt from proven practical techniques for software construction, particularly those that support distributed software integration, heterogeneity and software management. Configuration Programming is one such approach which advocates the use of a separate, declarative configuration language for the description of system structure. It has been used in the Conic Environment for the development of distributable software, and is being extended for the configuration of heterogeneous components programmed in different programming languages. A number of software tools exist for the development, construction and management of Conic systems. This paper shows how an analogous set of the principles, practice and tools from configuration programming can be combined with recent work on ViewPoints 1 to provide a configurable framework for method and tool integration.