ARSC Architecture for Reuse

The objective of this proposal is to study and develop an object oriented message passing software methodology that helps facilitate the description and storage of the knowledge describing software components. The componenet knowledge will come from the component itself. The interfaces between components are characterized by the messages/data they exchange and the responsibilities that each component is assigned. Because the kowledge base can represent the relationships and associations between component responsibilities, it can be used to compose partial or complete software solutions. A front-end tool would be developed that could take the OBJ3 specification and query the component models stored in LOOM. Software components could then be retrieved based on the selections recommended. Wizdom uses this type of approach for the composition of CNC machine controllers, a type of real-time system. Systems are composed of 100's components from many vendors. The application model and component models are matched giving best possible fit and alternatives. This approach has proven itself as an effective way to compose systems from retrievable reusable component libraries. THis proposal would allow us to extend the capabilities into other domains and would be of great value to developers building large scale systems one of it's strong points.