Talk reminder and updated abstract

[Mehdi Jazayeri]

Guest lecture next week...


Architectural support for system families

     Stan Jarzabeck

     National University of Singapore=20

     Tuesday, Dec 1, 1998, 10.00am s.t.
     Information Systems Institute, Library, Argentinierstra=DFe 8, 3rd=
 floor

Abstract:

In this talk, I will focus on problems in the design of generic=
 architectures=20
for system families. A system family (also called a product line) comprises
a collection of similar systems (for example, payroll systems). Systematic,
reuse-based development and maintenance of system families emerges as the
most promising way to increase software productivity and quality.=20
I will start by discussing notions of components and architectures and=20
reviewing approaches to handling software system families such as=20
parameterized off-the-shelf packages, domain-specific software architecture=
=20
(DSSA) approach, OO frameworks, pre-processing and table-driven techniques.=
=20
Then, I will present and compare two models for generic architectures:
one based on emerging component technologies (such as Enterprise JavaBeans,
ActiveX and CORBA) and the other one - based on source level program
construction units. I will illustrate both models with examples from
our domain engineering project on Facility Reservation Systems (FRS).=20
I will discuss how a domain model and other global (i.e., cross-component)=
=20
structures can aid developers in customizing and evolving generic=20
architectures. In conclusions, I will suggest that the component-based=20
architecture model creates problems for customization and evolution as=20
system requirements cannot be fully "componentised". The global structures=
=20
may help ease these problems.

The last issue gives raise to a number of interesting questions such as:
1. what criteria should we use to identify components is generic=
 architectures
   and in software systems, in general?
2. design-time components (i.e., those that can be customized at source code
   level during program construction) versus executable components
3. in what ways can component platforms help us build flexible and generic
   software systems?