Structuring Distributed Applications as Fragmented Objects
Mesaac Makpangou, Yvon Gourhant, Marc Shapiro, Yvon Gourhant · 1991
Most distributed systems offer only primitive communication objects (e.g. channels). Their undisciplined use obscures, and exposes the implementation of, higher-level concepts. We propose instead a high-level, structured approach, called Fragmented Objects. A Fragmented Object is a distributed shared object. Clients see a fragmented object as an ordinary object. The implementor of a fragmented object decides of its interface and representation, including (if necessary) aspects such as placement of data items, communication between fragments, protocol layering, and binding. The fragmented object model provides a common framework for different distribution mechanisms, such as client/ server stubs, replication, cacheing, and data partitioning. We present the basic fragmented object concepts and a full example, the SOS Naming Service, layered into Name Space and Naming View objects. Each of these layers is implemented as fragmented objects; we point out specific benefits of the fragmented ...