Software connectors reuse in component-based systems

Component-based software architecture describes systems as a collection of components that interact with each other using connectors. While components are defined explicitly, connectors are left tangled. Connectors are often considered to be explicit at the level of architecture but implicit in a system´s implementation. This ambiguity makes it difficult to redefine or reuse a connector. In this article, we present a clear definition of connectors in component-based systems. We use this definition to describe a number of operational mechanisms to support connectors´ reuse in a component-based software architecture.