Design Support for State-Based Distributed Object Software

University Of Illinois At Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

Proposal Number: 9988168 Shatz, Sol, M. University of Illinois at Chicago Design Support for State-Based Distributed Object Software Computer system applications are rapidly becoming more decentralized and concurrent, especially for important environments like military command and control, commercial telecommunications, and evolving Internet applications. Complexity in specification, design, and analysis dramatically increases in software architectures defined by distributed components interacting via non-deterministic communication patterns. One of the most significant research problems is achieving a balance between general theoretical concepts and specific practical techniques. This research investigates a domain-specific design technique for distributed-object software systems. The approach is based on applying and adapting Petri nets, an existing graph model oriented toward concurrent systems. The specific objectives are to solidify the theoretical foundations for a state-based object design notation and investigate capabilities for inheritance modeling within the design framework. This research can lead to methods and notations that support engineering-oriented design of complex distributed software systems. This has the potential to improve the overall quality and cost-effectiveness of development and maintenance for a wide range of critical software applications.