Components: From object to mobile channels

In this chapter we introduce a formal model of components which extends objectorientation with additional structuring and abstraction mechanisms to support a modelling discipline based on interfaces. The component model formalizes the concepts of interfaces, roles, connectors, and ports. Components encapsulate their internal class structure and interact only through a certain kind of objects which are called ports. Ports are instances of classes which are represented by roles. Roles export information about the required and provided operations of these classes by means of interfaces. By means of connectors which wire roles of different components together, ports of one component can dynamically create ports of another component. As an example, we show how to model mobile channels for the dynamic reconfiguration and exogenous coordination of components.

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