Pluggable Advisors as Epiphyte Systems
François Pachet, Sylvain Giroux, Gilbert Paquette · 1994
Summary Most over the shoulder advisor systems (OSAS) are developed as self-contained systems, whose components are designed from scratch. The advisor architecture we present here departs from this approach. An OSAS is seen as an independent, non disturbing, neutral system (hence the adjective epiphyte), that observes the activity of a host system, according to a given viewpoint. Our architecture provides a model for specifying viewpoints on an application's activity, and the desired structure of the OSAS. Viewpoints are represented by a hierarchical structure called a task tree. Once specified, the task tree is used to generate automatically the OSAS, that feeds on the application. As ivy grows on a tree, our OSAS grow on the application and adapts to its evolution..