Composition Validation and Subjectivity in GenVoca Generators

  • Authors:
  • Don Batory;Bart J. Geraci

  • Affiliations:
  • Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin;Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
  • Year:
  • 1997

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

GenVoca generators synthesize software systems by composing components from reuse libraries. GenVoca components are designed to export and import standardized interfaces, and thus be plug-compatible, interchangeable, and interoperable with other components. In this paper, we examine two different but important issues in software system synthesis. First, not all syntactically correct compositions of components are semantically correct. We present simple, efficient, and domain-independent algorithms for validating compositions of GenVoca components. Second, components that export and import immutable interfaces are too restrictive for software system synthesis. We show that the interfaces and bodies of GenVoca components are subjective, i.e., they mutate and enlarge upon instantiation. This mutability enables software systems with customized interfaces to be composed from components with "standardized" interfaces.