Coordination of Mobile Components
Farhad Arbab · Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science · 2001
In this paper, we present Pεω, a paradigm for composition of software components based on the notion of mobile channels. Both components and channels are mobile in Pεω, in the sense that (1) components can move at any time from one location to another, retaining their existing channel links, and (2) the same channels can be disconnected and reconnected to other components, thus dynamically changing the topology of inter-component communication. The component composition paradigm of Pεω is in the style of the IWIM coordination model, and is an extension of our earlier work on formal-logic-based component interface description language to convey the observable semantics of components. The main focus of attention in Pεω is the channels and operations on them, not the processes that operate on them or the components they are connected to. The composition operations in Pεω combine various channel types to produce complex dynamic topologies of “connectors” to which processes or components can be attached.