Workshop on Composition LanguagesWorkshop on Composition Languages
The aim of WCL 2001 is to provide a forum to address problems concerning the design and implementation of higher-level languages for component-based software development. The main focus of the workshop will be on language aspects, and not on component-based systems in general. Besides a discussion of theoretical and practical issues related to composition languages, we hope that this workshop also results in an outline of collaborative topics relevant for both researchers and practitioners as well as a list of areas for further exploration.
In contrast to similar workshops in the area of component-based software, WCL 2001 aims to particularly address specific problems related to composition systems and environments. More precisely, we would like to emphasize important issues of (i) the design and implementation of higher-level languages for component-based software development, (ii) the definition of new paradigms for the specification of reusable architectural assets, and (iii) expressing applications as compositions of software components (i.e. scripting). Particularly, we would like to encourage authors to submit position statements focusing on formal aspects of the issues mentioned above.
WCL 2001 seeks position statements addressing any aspects related to the design and implementation of higher-level languages suitable for component-based software development.
Currently, there is considerable experience in component technology and many resources are spent in defining component models and components such as CORBA, COM, JavaBeans, and more recently EJB and .NET. However, much less effort is spent in investigating appropriate composition languages, which allow application developers to express applications flexibly as compositions of components and, therefore, offer support for component-based software engineering.
Most available composition environments focus mainly on special application domains and offer at best rudimentary support for the integration of components that were built in a system other than the actual deployment environment. Furthermore, these systems do not enforce a clear separation of computational elements (i.e. components) and their relationships, which is needed to address the flexibility and maintainability of component-based systems. The reason for this situation is not only the lack of well-defined (or standardized) component interfaces, but in particular the ad-hoc way the semantics of the underlying language models are defined.
It is not the goal of this workshop to focus on aspects of component-based programming related to implementation of components, component frameworks and systems, etc. This workshop aims to address the specific problems of existing composition systems by focusing on important aspects of the design and implementation of composition languages.
Suggested topics of interest to WCL 2001 include, but are not limited to:
In order to enable lively and productive discussions, the workshop will be limited to 25 participants. To participate in the workshop, acceptance of a position statement is required.
Authors are encouraged to address any aspects of the design and implementation of composition languages in their position statements. We solicit submissions on original research (preferably not previously published or currently submitted for publication elsewhere) in the form of extended abstracts. Submissions should not exceed 8 pages (with a minimum 11pt font) and must have a cover page including the paper title, abstract, names and affiliations of authors, postal contact addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers. In addition, we ask the authors to include a list of three critical questions or some, perhaps provocative, statements at the end of their submission which will assist the organizers to define the topics of discussion groups in advance. Submissions should be sent in an electronic format (PDF or Postscript) to wcl2001@cs.iastate.edu and should be prepared for letter or A4 sizes. LaTeX with Springer LNCS-style is recommended.
Prospective contributors are encouraged to register their interest by contacting the workshop organizers a few weeks prior to the submission deadline (June 3, 2001).
All submissions will be reviewed by at least two independent reviewers (not necessarily by the organizers themselves). Based on (i) the quality, (ii) the relevance as well as (iii) the defined workshop questions, a small selection of submissions will be briefly presented at the workshop. Authors of accepted position statement are expected to participate in the workshop.
The workshop organizers plan to define discussion groups in advance. Depending on the submitted position papers, the workshop will be divided into two or three discussion groups, each of them having a well-defined set of questions and topics to be discussed. We hope being able to assign the participants to their corresponding discussion group prior to the workshop in order to encourage lively and productive discussions. At the end of the workshop, the discussion groups will reunite and will summarize their results.
All selected submissions will be made available online prior to the workshop and hardcopies thereof will be handed out to all workshop participants during the workshop.
Furthermore, aspects of the best position statements as well as the workshop results will be discussed and published as a technical report of Iowa State University. Technical reports of Iowa State University are available electronically on the web through Iowa State University Computer Science Technical Reports. Following the workshop, we hope to explore other avenues for possible publication of a selection of revised and extended position statements.