Macroprogramming: Concepts, State of the Art, and Opportunities of Macroscopic Behaviour Modelling

Abstract

Macroprogramming refers to the theory and practice of expressing the macro(scopic) behaviour of a collective system using a single program. Macroprogramming approaches are motivated by the need of effectively capturing global/system-level aspects and the collective behaviour of multiple computational components, while abstracting over low-level details. Previously, this programming style had been primarily adopted to describe the data-processing logic in sensor networks; recently, research forums on spatial computing, collective systems, and the Internet of Things have provided renewed interest in macro approaches. However, related contributions are still fragmented and lack conceptual consistency. Therefore, to foster principled research, an integrated view of the field is provided, together with opportunities and challenges.