Durra: a structure description language for developing distributed applications

Durra is a language and runtime support system for developing distributed applications. The paper describes the general nature of these applications, and the need for separating structural and behavioural details. A Durra user describes an application as a set of components (application tasks and communication channels), a set of alternative configurations showing how these components are connected at runtime, and a set of conditional configuration transitions, that take place at runtime. These features are illustrated through examples drawn from the fault tolerance domain. An illustration of the use of Durra in an incremental software development scenario is also given