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A Calculus for Modeling Software Components

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Book cover Formal Methods for Components and Objects (FMCO 2002)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2852))

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Abstract

Many competing definitions of software components have been proposed over the years, but still today there is only partial agreement over such basic issues as granularity (are components bigger or smaller than objects, packages, or application?), instantiation (do components exist at run-time or only at compile-time?), and state (should we distinguish between components and “instances” of components?). We adopt a minimalist view in which components can be distinguished by composable interfaces. We have identified a number of key features and mechanisms for expressing composable software, and propose a calculus for modeling components, based on the asynchronous π calculus extended with explicit namespaces, or “forms”. This calculus serves as a semantic foundation and an executable abstract machine for Piccola, an experimental composition language. The calculus also enables reasoning about compositional styles and evaluation strategies for Piccola. We present the design rationale for the Piccola calculus, and briefly outline some of the results obtained.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Software Composition Group, University of Bern, Switzerland

    Oscar Nierstrasz & Franz Achermann

Authors
  1. Oscar Nierstrasz
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  2. Franz Achermann
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science, CWI, Kruislaan 413, 1098 SJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Frank S. de Boer

  2. Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9512, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Marcello M. Bonsangue

  3. VERIMAG, 2 Avenue de Vignate, Centre Equitation, 38610, Grenoble-Gières, France

    Susanne Graf

  4. Institute of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Hermann-Rodewald-Straße 3, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Willem-Paul de Roever

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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Nierstrasz, O., Achermann, F. (2003). A Calculus for Modeling Software Components. In: de Boer, F.S., Bonsangue, M.M., Graf, S., de Roever, WP. (eds) Formal Methods for Components and Objects. FMCO 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2852. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-39656-7_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-39656-7_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-20303-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-39656-7

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