Applying a pattern language to develop extensible ORB middleware

  • Authors:
  • Douglas C. Schmidt;Chris Cleeland

  • Affiliations:
  • Univ. of California, Irvine;Object computing, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri

  • Venue:
  • Design patterns in communications software
  • Year:
  • 2001

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Abstract

Distributed object computing forms the basis of next-generation communication software. At the heart of distributed object computing are Object Request Brokers (ORBs), which automate many tedius and error-prone distributed programming tasks. Like much communication software, conventional ORBs use statically configured designs, which are hard to port, optimize, and evolve. Likewise, conventional ORBs cannot be extended without modifying their source code, which forces recompilation, relinking, and restarting running ORBs and their associated application objects. This chapter makes two contributions to the study of extensible ORB middleware. First, it presents a case study illustrating how a pattern language can be used to develop dynamically configurable ORBs that can be customized for specific application requirements and system characteristics. Second, we quantify the impact of applying this pattern language to reduce the complexity and improve the maintainability of common ORB tasks, such as connection management, data transfer, demultiplexing, and concurrency control.