Meta-Data Objects as the Basis for System Evolution

Details Meta-Data Objects as the Basis for System Evolution Meta-Data Objects as the Basis for System Evolution

2001-07-30

arxiv.org/abs/physics/0107073v2

Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol 2118, pp 390-399 ISBN 3-540-42298-6 Springer-Verlag, 2001

Physics

Instrumentation and Detectors

8 pages, 7 figures, 2nd Web Age Information Systems (WAIM) conference. Xi'an, China, July 2001

Scientific paper

One of the main factors driving object-oriented software development in the Web- age is the need for systems to evolve as user requirements change. A crucial factor in the creation of adaptable systems dealing with changing requirements is the suitability of the underlying technology in allowing the evolution of the system. A reflective system utilizes an open architecture where implicit system aspects are reified to become explicit first-class (meta-data) objects. These implicit system aspects are often fundamental structures which are inaccessible and immutable, and their reification as meta-data objects can serve as the basis for changes and extensions to the system, making it self- describing. To address the evolvability issue, this paper proposes a reflective architecture based on two orthogonal abstractions - model abstraction and information abstraction. In this architecture the modeling abstractions allow for the separation of the description meta-data from the system aspects they represent so that they can be managed and versioned independently, asynchronously and explicitly. A practical example of this philosophy, the CRISTAL project, is used to demonstrate the use of meta-data objects to handle system evolution.

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