A description language for composable components

Abstract

In this paper we present CCDL, our description language for composable components. We have introduced hierarchically composable components as means to achieve finetuned customization of component based systems. A composable component is defined by a fixed contractual specification of its external view and a set of structural constraints for its internal configuration. The internal configuration of a composable component is not fixed, but will be composed according to different requirements and has to comply with the structural constraints. This permits a high degree of unanticipated variability. Our approach is architectural style specific and addresses multiflow architectures. The goal of CCDL is to describe contractual specifications and structural constraints of composable components, as guidelines for their composition. CCDL descriptions can be used by automatic composition tools that implement requirements driven composition strategies. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.