Specifying Distributed and Dynamically Evolving Information Systems Using an Extended CO-Nets Approach

  • Authors:

  • Nasreddine Aoumeur

  • Affiliations:

  • -

  • Venue:
  • Selected papers from the Eight International Workshop on Foundations of Models and Languages for Data and Objects, Transactions and Database Dynamics
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

The CO-NETS approach that we are developing is an object-oriented (OO) specification model based on a formal and complete integration of OO concepts and constructions into an appropriate variant of algebraic Petri nets. Interpreted in rewriting logic, the approach is particularly tailored for specifying and validating advanced information systems as distributed, autonomous yet cooperative components. However, in spirit of most existing conceptual models, the CO-NETS approach requires that all system aspects have to be known during its specification and fixed at once; a fact going in contrast to reality where most systems, due to different changes in business and law factors, have to change their behaviour in unexpected way during their long life-span. With the objective to overcome this crucial limitation, we present in this paper first steps towards an appropriate extension of CO-NETS approach for naturally dealing with specification evolution. The main ideas are based on, first, distinguishing between a rigid, fixed object behaviour part and a modifiable one. Second, besides usual transitions and places, we introduce the notions of meta-places and meta-transitions for dynamically governing the modifiable behaviour. Third, we propose for meta-transitions two-steps (i.e. meta- and object levels) valuated rewriting rules.