HyperDisco: an object-oriented hypermedia framework for flexible software system integration

Software development environments are examples of complex computer applications characterized by heterogeneity; they are composed of diverse information repositories, user interfaces, services and tools. This paper presents an approach for providing hypermedia linking services as a means for integration in these heterogeneous settings. The overall goal of the HyperDisco project is to provide a hypermedia framework for flexible software system integration. The basic idea in this approach is to allow different tools to be integrated in the hypermedia framework at different tool-dependent levels. Instead of providing a single model of integration that all tools must adhere to, we allow each tool to have its own specialized model of integration and its own specialized protocol for accessing the hypermedia services. This paper describes the approach (focusing on integration and modeling aspects) and presents a prototype which supports it. Preliminary experience with the HyperDisco prototype and its relationship to other systems is described