A Formal Model for Componentware.
Klaus Bergner, Andreas Rausch, Marc Sihling, Alexander Vilbig, Manfred Broy · 1999
In this paper, we outline and clarify our view of the essential concepts of componentware, focusing on the role of formal foundations in the context of an overall development methodology. We provide a formal system model which allows for clear definitions of concepts like, for instance, component, interface, connection, aggregation, and refinement. While existing approaches in the field of interface and architecture description languages are mainly restricted to static, structural properties of a system, the proposed model covers also essential dynamic characteristics. On the one hand, this pertains to the flow of data and control between the system's components. Based on precise definitions of the basic concepts, we evolve an understanding of communication as an abstract service protocol between component interfaces. On the other hand, a system's dynamics correspond to changes of the connection structure between component instances and to the creation and destruction of component inst...