Supporting adaptable distributed systems with FORMAware

The interactive and ubiquitous nature of future distributed services (e.g. digital libraries, learning systems, etc.) makes them more architectural and resource demanding. Consequently, next generation middleware frameworks should support both shorter and longer-term adaptation (i.e. a priori and a posteriori reconfiguration). In fact, current component standards [W. Emmerich, (2000)] leverage software reusability and diminish development costs. Nevertheless, it is also a fact that existing middleware, which succeeded in meeting the goals of heterogeneity and interoperability, is not open enough for tackling the problem of dynamic evolution. We present FORMAware, a framework that combines a novel component-based programming model enhanced by a reflective design, the former capturing the knowledge about software architecture abstractions (e.g. components, connectors, style managers, style rules) while the latter offering architecture awareness by explicitly opening the content and structure of both atomic and composite components (via introspection and adaptation meta-objects). In addition, FORMAware provides a set of tools and services for automating software development and adaptation (i.e. support for the generation, assembly, deployment and dynamic reconfiguration processes).