Composition of Distributed Software with Algon — Concepts and Possibilities

Autor: Basil Worrall, Judith Bishop, Karen Renaud
Rok vydání: 2002
Předmět:
Zdroj: Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science. 65(4):56-67
ISSN: 1571-0661
DOI: 10.1016/s1571-0661(04)80438-9
Popis: The perceived advantages of distributed systems, such as increased reliability and availability, are offset by the increased complexity of developing such applications. The developers of distributed applications have to both understand the core functionality of the application, and to cater for the mechanisms of distribution. Distribution brings with it issues of mutual exclusion, termination and deadlock which are addressed differently in a centralised system. We propose using separation of concerns. to control any additional complexity thus introduced. We identify specifically the well known distributed algorithms which solve distributed mutual exclusion and so on, and provide a framework whereby they can be injected into an existing system. The framework is called Algon, and consists of the algorithms, various wrappers and interfaces in Java, and sample schedulers which are needed to handle communication between the now distributed processes. Algon does not supply middleware, and the intention is that any middleware such as RMI, CORBA or .NET can be used. The novelty of Algon is that developers are not expected to understand or implement the distributed algorithms themselves. Moreover Algon provides the developer with a choice of pre-coded and tested algorithms with different performance characteristics. This paper gives an outline of the Algon approach, and provides a pattern specification for the separation of these algorithms from the core functionality of a distributed system.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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