An Object Group-Based Component Model

Dynamic reconfiguration, i.e. changing at runtime the communication pattern of a program is challenging for most programs as it is generally impossible to ensure that such modifications won’t disrupt current computations. In this paper, we propose a new approach for the integration of components in an object-oriented language that allows safe dynamic reconfiguration. Our approach is built upon futures and object-groups to which we add: i) output ports to represent variability points, ii) critical sections to control when updates of the software can be made and iii) hierarchy to model locations and distribution. These different notions work together to allow dynamic and safe update of a system. We illustrate our approach with a few examples