A generic component model for building systems software

Component-based software structuring principles are now commonly and successfully applied at the application level; but componentisation is far less established when it comes to building low-level systems software. Although there have been pioneering efforts in applying componentisation to systems-building, these efforts have tended to be narrowly targeted at specific application domains (e.g. embedded systems, operating systems, communications systems, programmable networking environments, or middleware platforms). They also tend to be narrowly targeted at specific deployment environments (e.g. standard personal computer (PC) environments, network processors, or microcontrollers). The disadvantage of this narrow targeting is that it fails to maximise the ty and abstraction potential of the component approach. In this paper we argue for the benefits and feasibility of a generic yet tailorable approach to component-based systems-building that offers a uniform programming model in a wid...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: TOCS
• Authors: Geoff Coulson, Gordon S. Blair, Paul Grace, François Taïani, Ackbar Joolia, Kevin Lee, Jo Ueyama, Thirunavukkarasu Sivaharan
• Keywords: Low-level Systems Software, Programmable Networking Environments, Systems, TOCS 2008