Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on Software Technologies

ICSOFT 2013: Software Technologies pp 273–289Cite as

Realizable, Connector-Driven Software Architectures for Practising Engineers

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 457))

Abstract

Despite being a widely-used language for specifying software systems, UML remains less than ideal for software architectures. Architecture description languages (ADLs) were developed to provide more comprehensive support. However, so far the application of ADLs in practice has been impeded by at least one of the following problems: (i) advanced formal notations requiring a steep learning curve, (ii) lack of support for user-defined, complex connectors, and (iii) potentially unrealizable architectural designs.

This paper proposes Xcd, a new ADL that aims at supporting user-defined, complex connectors to help increase architectural modularity. It also aims to help increase the degree of reusability, as now components need not specify interaction protocols, as these can be specified independently by connectors (which increases protocol reusability too).

Connector support requires to ensure that architectural designs are always realizable, as it is currently extremely easy to obtain unrealizable ones. Xcd eliminates potentially unrealizable constructs in connector specifications.

Finally, Xcd employs a notation and notions from Design-by-Contract (DbC) for specifying software architecture behaviour. While DbC promotes a formal and precise way of specifying system behaviours, it is not as challenging for practising developers as process algebras that are usually employed by ADLs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Allen, R., Garlan, D.: A formal basis for architectural connection. ACM Trans. Softw. Eng. Methodol. 6(3), 213–249 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Alur, R., Etessami, K., Yannakakis, M.: Inference of message sequence charts. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 29(7), 623–633 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Alur, R., Etessami, K., Yannakakis, M.: Realizability and verification of MSC graphs. Theor. Comput. Sci. 331(1), 97–114 (2005)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Bergstra, J.A., Ponse, A., Smolka, S.A. (eds.): Handbook of Process Algebra. Elsevier, Amsterdam (2001)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Bjørner, D., Jones, C.B. (eds.): The Vienna Development Method: The Meta-Language. LNCS, vol. 61. Springer, Heidelberg (1978)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Canal, C., Pimentel, E., Troya, J.M., Canal, C., Pimentel, E., Troya, J.M.: Specification and refinement of dynamic software architectures. In: Donohoe, P. (ed.) WICSA. IFIP Conference Proceedings, vol. 140, pp. 107–126. Kluwer, Dordrecht (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Chalin, P., Kiniry, J.R., Leavens, G.T., Poll, E.: Beyond assertions: advanced specification and verification with JML and ESC/Java2. In: de Boer, F.S., Bonsangue, M.M., Graf, S., de Roever, W.-P. (eds.) FMCO 2005. LNCS, vol. 4111, pp. 342–363. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Delanote, D., Baelen, S. V., Joosen, W., Berbers, Y.: Using AADL to model a protocol stack. In: ICECCS, pp. 277–281. IEEE Computer Society (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Dijkstra, E.W.: Guarded commands, nondeterminacy and formal derivation of programs. Commun. ACM 18(8), 453–457 (1975)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Feiler, P.H., Gluch, D.P., Hudak, J.J.: The Architecture Analysis & Design Language (AADL): An Introduction. Technical report, Software Engineering Institute (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Garlan, D., Allen, R., Ockerbloom, J.: Architectural mismatch or why it’s hard to build systems out of existing parts. In: ICSE, pp. 179–185 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Garlan, D., Shaw, M.: An introduction to software architecture. In: Ambriola, V., Tortora, G. (eds.) Advances in Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, pp. 1–39. World Scientific Publishing Company, Singapore (1993). Also appears as SCS and SEI technical reports: CMU-CS-94-166, CMU/SEI-94-TR-21, ESC-TR-94-021

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Hoare, C.A.R.: An axiomatic basis for computer programming. Commun. ACM 12(10), 576–580 (1969)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  14. Holzmann, G.J.: The SPIN Model Checker - Primer and Reference Manual. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Issarny, V., Bennaceur, A., Bromberg, Y.-D.: Middleware-layer connector synthesis: beyond state of the art in middleware interoperability. In: Bernardo, M., Issarny, V. (eds.) SFM 2011. LNCS, vol. 6659, pp. 217–255. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  16. Ivers, J., Clements, P., Garlan, D., Nord, R., Schmerl, B., Silva, J.R.O.: Documenting component and connector views with UML 2.0. Technical report CMU/SEI-2004-TR-008, Software Engineering Institute (Carnegie Mellon University) (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Luckham, D.C.: Rapide: a language and toolset for simulation of distributed systems by partial orderings of events. Technical report, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Magee, J., Kramer, J.: Dynamic structure in software architectures. In: SIGSOFT FSE, pp. 3–14 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Malavolta, I., Lago, P., Muccini, H., Pelliccione, P., Tang, A.: What industry needs from architectural languages: a survey. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 39(6), 869–891 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Medvidovic, N., Taylor, R.N.: A classification and comparison framework for software architecture description languages. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 26(1), 70–93 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Meyer, B.: Applying “design by contract”. IEEE Comput. 25(10), 40–51 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Ozkaya, M.: Xcd website (2013). http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/abdz276/xcd.html

  23. Perry, D.E., Wolf, A.L.: Foundations for the study of software architecture. SIGSOFT Softw. Eng. Notes 17(4), 40–52 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Plasil, F., Visnovsky, S.: Behavior protocols for software components. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 28(11), 1056–1076 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Schmidt, H., Poernomo, I., Reussner, R.: Trust-by-contract: modelling, analysing and predicting behaviour of software architectures. J. Integr. Des. Process Sci. 5(3), 25–51 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Schreiner, D., Göschka, K.M.: Explicit connectors in component based software engineering for distributed embedded systems. In: van Leeuwen, J., Italiano, G.F., van der Hoek, W., Meinel, C., Sack, H., Plášil, F. (eds.) SOFSEM 2007. LNCS, vol. 4362, pp. 923–934. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Tripakis, S.: Undecidable problems of decentralized observation and control. In: Proceedings of the 40th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Orlando, FL, USA, vol. 5, pp. 4104–4109. IEEE, December 2001

    Google Scholar 

  28. Tripakis, S.: Undecidable problems of decentralized observation and control on regular languages. Inf. Process. Lett. 90(1), 21–28 (2004)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Informatics, City University London, London, EC1V 0HB, UK

    Mert Ozkaya & Christos Kloukinas

Authors
  1. Mert Ozkaya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christos Kloukinas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mert Ozkaya .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, Setúbal, Portugal

    José Cordeiro

  2. Centre for Telematics and Information Te, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Marten van Sinderen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Ozkaya, M., Kloukinas, C. (2014). Realizable, Connector-Driven Software Architectures for Practising Engineers. In: Cordeiro, J., van Sinderen, M. (eds) Software Technologies. ICSOFT 2013. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 457. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44920-2_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44920-2_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-44919-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-44920-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation