Introducing distribution into applications: a reflective approach for transparency and dynamic fine-grained object allocation

Developing distributed software systems is a complex activity that involves facing not only the problems of a specific application, but also those typical of distribution. Computational reflection supplies a means to handle different concerns with distinct components and a framework in which the latter can interact smoothly. We propose a reflective software architecture that encapsulates distribution concerns within components that are separated from and independent of those addressing functional concerns. The proposed architecture achieves a thorough management of distribution and in particular provides a means to dynamically adapt allocation policies to the characteristics of application objects, available hosts and changes of the distributed environment. The proposed approach is helpful for achieving the incremental development of easy to evolve software systems. In particular, we discuss the benefits of applying it to existing Web and e-commerce applications.