Ziel
The aim of REX was to facilitate the development and management of parallel and distributed systems. A methodology and a set of integrated support tools are required for this, which it was the objective of the project to develop.
Configuration Programming is an object-based approach to distributed programming. The main principle underlying this approach is that programs should be designed, constructed and modified as a structural configuration of interconnected component instances. Program structure is described by a seperate explicit configuration language, while the components themselves may be programmed in a range of heterogeneous programming languages. This approach is central to the ESPRIT II project, REX, on reconfigurable and extensible parallel and distributed systems. The REX project offers multiple component programming languages to suit the programming task at hand. Similarily, to provide support for diverse application domains, REX supports multiple specification and analysis techniques and the integration of multiple methods. Specification and method integration is provided through the use of a novel approach, called ViewPoints, which supports specification and method partitioning and interaction through explicit transformations analogous to those used in software configurations. Furthermore, a REX Engineering Environment is intended to provide a general facility for integrating information produced during any of the phases of software development and maintenance. It provides an attributed file system combined with language facilities for enveloping and controlling the invocation of slave computer aided software engineering (CASE) tools and compilers. A generalised attribute mechanism is provided to allow specification and design tools to attach information to configuration descriptions. These attributes, which can include timing and behaviour constraints, can be checked during system construction with the aim of ensuring compatibility between components when their interfaces are bound.
The strategy followed is to retain formal specification as the main point for checking system consistency, predicting timing behaviour and assisting in system modifications. The project is developing:
- a methodology for constructing reconfigurable and extensible distributed and parallel systems
- tools to support all phases of the distributed application development and maintenance
- techniques to change running systems and to achieve reliable configuration
- tools to advise users on how to obtain better performance, based on the separation of the host development and a target operating system.
The main work areas of REX are:
- specification of distributed and parallel systems
- system programming
- methodology for system development
- analysis and evaluation
- dynamic configuration and reconfiguration
- run-time support
- demonstrator applications.
Real-world applications will be used for proving the feasibility and usability of the REX methodology and its associated tools in industrial practice. Two test-bed demonstrator applications, from industrial automation and telecommunications systems, have been developed in the early phases of the project.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applicationssystem softwareoperating systems
- social sciencessociologyindustrial relationsautomation
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware development
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunications
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
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22761 Hamburg
Deutschland