HP Labs Technical Reports

Connecting Software Components with Declarative Glue

Beach, Brian W.

HPL-91-152

Keyword(s):

Abstract: We describe a software bus, called Bart, that addresses the problem of maintaining flexibility in software systems by supporting component independence. Software components can be built independent of the context in which they are used, allowing them to be reused in many different situations. pp The connections between software components are described using a novel Software Glue language that declaritively defines the connections between the data models in heterogeneous components. This glue language is compiled into an efficient procedural form and, to reduce communication overhead, executed on the machine where the data resides. pp Bart is a software bus that handles message transport, data sharing, and connections using Software Glue. It operates in a distributed environment and can connect components written in different programming languages. We illustrate the use of Bart in supporting a hypertext system.

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