Coordinating Distributed Objects

Coordinating Distributed Objects presents a novel object-oriented methodology to simplify the construction of distributed software systems. The methodology is based on a programming construct, called synchronizer, that allows the coordination of distributed application components to be programmed in a modular fashion and at a high level of abstraction. The methodology offers new insight into the problem of coordination in distributed systems and can be applied to a broad spectrum of distributed software systems such as process control, multimedia, and groupware. Current methodologies for developing distributed applications do not adequately address the complexity of coordinating application components. The coherence between asynchronous application components, for instance, is usually implemented by explicitly programming a large number of messages and the responses to them. The synchronizer construct, however, implements coordination as abstract and reusable coordination constraints, and thereby reduces code size and complexity by an order of magnitude. Synchronizers offer other attractions as well: they maintain procedural abstraction, data encapsulation, and inherent concurrency. Overall, they allow coordination to be expressed at a level of abstraction that is much closer to the mental model of code developers.

Coordinating Distributed Objects presents a novel object-oriented methodology to simplify the construction of distributed software systems. The methodology is based on a programming construct, called synchronizer, that allows the coordination of distributed application components to be programmed in a modular fashion and at a high level of abstraction. The methodology offers new insight into the problem of coordination in distributed systems and can be applied to a broad spectrum of distributed software systems such as process control, multimedia, and groupware. Current methodologies for developing distributed applications do not adequately address the complexity of coordinating application components. The coherence between asynchronous application components, for instance, is usually implemented by explicitly programming a large number of messages and the responses to them. The synchronizer construct, however, implements coordination as abstract and reusable coordination constraints, and thereby reduces code size and complexity by an order of magnitude. Synchronizers offer other attractions as well: they maintain procedural abstraction, data encapsulation, and inherent concurrency. Overall, they allow coordination to be expressed at a level of abstraction that is much closer to the mental model of code developers.

The Internet confronts IT researchers, system designers, and application developers with completely new challenges and, as a fascinating new computing paradigm, agent technology has recently attracted broad interest and strong hopes for shaping the future information society. This monograph-like anthology is the first systematic guide to models and enabling technologies for the coordination of intelligent agents on the Internet and respective applications.

Papers collected here, from a December 2001 workshop held at the University of Central Florida, examine topics related to process coordination and ubiquitous computing. Papers on coordination models discuss areas such as space-based coordination and open distributed systems, global virtual data stru

Formal Methods for Open Object-Based Distributed Systems presents the leading edge in several related fields, specifically object-orientated programming, open distributed systems and formal methods for object-oriented systems. With increased support within industry regarding these areas, this book captures the most up-to-date information on the subject. Many topics are discussed, including the following important areas: object-oriented design and programming; formal specification of distributed systems; open distributed platforms; types, interfaces and behaviour; formalisation of object-oriented methods. This volume comprises the proceedings of the International Workshop on Formal Methods for Open Object-based Distributed Systems (FMOODS), sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) which was held in Florence, Italy, in February 1999. Formal Methods for Open Object-Based Distributed Systems is suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level courses in computer science and telecommunications, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry, commerce and government.

Based on a suitably defined coordination model distinguishing between objective (inter-agent) coordination and subjective (intra-agent) coordination, this book addresses the engineering of multi-agent systems and thus contributes to closing the gap between research and applications in agent technology. After reviewing the state of the art, the author introduces the general coordination model ECM and the corresponding object-oriented coordination language STL++. The practicability of ECM/STL++ is illustrated by the simulation of a particular collective robotics application and the automation of an e-commerce trading system. Situated at the intersection of behavior-based artificial intelligence and concurrent and distributed systems, this monograph is of relevance to the agent R&D community approaching agent technology from the distributed artificial intelligence point of view as well as for the distributed systems community.

Based on a suitably defined coordination model distinguishing between objective (inter-agent) coordination and subjective (intra-agent) coordination, this book addresses the engineering of multi-agent systems and thus contributes to closing the gap between research and applications in agent technology. After reviewing the state of the art, the author introduces the general coordination model ECM and the corresponding object-oriented coordination language STL++. The practicability of ECM/STL++ is illustrated by the simulation of a particular collective robotics application and the automation of an e-commerce trading system. Situated at the intersection of behavior-based artificial intelligence and concurrent and distributed systems, this monograph is of relevance to the agent R&D community approaching agent technology from the distributed artificial intelligence point of view as well as for the distributed systems community.