Current software development practices frequently incorporate the reuse of multiple, existing, and often heterogeneous, components in a single application. This style of development is thought to increase adaptability and evolvability of the resulting integrated system. Unfortunately, it also manifests complex interoperability conflicts among participating components. Though commercial middleware is being touted as resolving these problems, often its use results in incomplete solutions, which are neither flexible nor evolvable. To overcome these problems, it is necessary to capture and codify the inherent nature of interoperability conflicts in order to determine and apply appropriate resolution techniques in a principled manner. Toward this end, this project focuses on developing a theory of integration founded on formulating software architecture descriptions of interoperability conflicts, mapping these conflicts to resolution strategies, and defining a formal composition of these strategies as they are used in middleware frameworks. The goal of this research is, therefore, to provide key resources at a foundational level to make principled and repeatable design decisions that result in more complete and adaptable integration solutions.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Computer and Communication Foundations (CCF)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
9988320
Program Officer
Sol J. Greenspan
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2000-07-01
Budget End
2004-06-30
Support Year
Fiscal Year
1999
Total Cost
$200,000
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Tulsa
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Tulsa
State
OK
Country
United States
Zip Code
74104