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Fourth International Workshop on Composition
Languages
In conjunction with |
What kind of language support is needed to enable software
composition? To give an answer to this question is not
easy. Currently, despite their limitations in the areas of
flexibility, adaptability, and type-safe composition, component-based
programming is mainly carried out using mainstream object-oriented
languages. However, these languages typically only provide an ad hoc
collection of mechanisms for constructing and composing objects, and
they are based on ad hoc semantic foundations. Are there any
alternatives and if so, what kind of changes do we need to make to
current practice?
In this workshop we intend to continue
the fruitful discussion that has been established in previous
workshops on composition languages (WCL 2001, WCL 2002, WCL 2003). These
events have prepared the ground for a common understanding of
distinguishing properties of composition languages.
However, there is still a gap between theory and
practice. Practitioners prefer a rather pragmatic view: composition
means putting things together to form an ensemble that works together
to achieve one goal, whereas theoreticians take a more abstract
approach: a component is an abstract view of an asset, assets must
interact in order to be considered as components, and interaction
defines the semantics of composition. Therefore, it is necessary and
worthwhile to do more research on how to combine concepts brought up
by different communities to overcome difficulties that we are
currently experiencing in component-based software development.
Recently, we have been observing a paradigm shift from
component-centric development to model-centric and
architecture-centric development. In particular, OMG's definition of
the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) can be considered as the next
step towards solving software integration problems. MDA introduces a
clear separation between application logic and application
infrastructure. Hence the specification of the architecture assets and
the composition of them are done on a conceptual level and thus
reducing the potential of architectural mismatches usually introduced
by dependencies to infrastructure.
In this workshop we intend to discuss the following questions: What
are benefits and limits of model-centric approaches? How can we
specify component behavior on a conceptual level? How can an existing
set of components be integrated with model-centric approaches? How can
we bridge the gap between conceptual component models and frameworks,
programming languages, and model-driven development?
Aspect of Composition languages
Compositional reasoning
Model-centric and architecture centric development
The workshop will be organized in several sessions. After an initial
presentation session, where all participants can formulate one or
more, possibly provocative, working hypotheses, we intend to split the
workshop into task forces to foster the discussion a particular
subject of common interest. At the end of the workshop the task forces
will reunite and we will assemble the results and formulate future
work, which we intend to present to the rest of the ECOOP community in
the form of a poster at the conference.
Authors are encouraged to address any aspects of the design and
implementation of composition languages in their position
statements. We solicit submissions on (possibly) original research 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 particularly ask authors to include a list of critical
questions and/or some, perhaps provocative, statements at the end of
their submission which will assist the organizers to define topics for
discussion in advance. Submissions should be sent in an electronic
format (PDF or Postscript) to Markus
Lumpe and preferably prepared for letter or A4 sizes using
Springer LNCS-style.
All selected submissions will be made available online prior to the
workshop and be published by one of the affiliated
organizations. Aspects of the best position statements as well as the
workshop results will be discussed in a chapter of the ECOOP Workshop
reader. The results of the workshop will also be presented to the rest
of the ECOOP community in the form of a poster at the conference. We
are investigating having a special issue of a journal for revisions of
selected papers after the workshop.
For further information about the workshop, please refer to the
workshop home page at
http://www.cs.iastate.edu/~lumpe/WCL2004.
Call for Contributions
Motivation
The component-based software engineering approach mainly consists of
two development steps: (i) the specification and implementation of
components and (ii) the composition of components into composites or
applications. Currently, there is considerable experience in
component technology and many resources are spent in defining
component models such as CORBA, COM, 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.
Topics
The goal of this workshop is to bring together researchers and
practitioners in the area of component-based software development in
order to address problems concerning the design and implementation of
composition languages and to develop a common understanding of the
corresponding concepts. We would also like to determine the strengths
and weaknesses of composition languages and compare it with similar
approaches in related fields. Suggested topics of interest include,
but are not limited to:
Submissions and Participation
Participation at the workshop is upon invitation only and subject to
acceptance of a position statement. All submissions will be
peer-reviewed by at least two members of the workshop organizing
committee. Based on the quality and originality, the authors of a
selection of the best position statements will be invited to give a
short presentation at the workshop.
Important Dates
Workshop Organizers