Semantic Models for Distributed Object Reflection

Abstract

A generic formal model of distributed object reflection is proposed, that combines logical reflection with a structuring of distributed objects as nested configurations of metaobject that can control subobjects under them. The model provides mathematical models for a good number of existing models of distributed reflection and of reflective middleware. To illustrate the ideas, we show in some detail how two important models of distributed actor reflection can be naturally obtained as special cases of our generic model, and discuss how several recent models of reflective middleware can be likewise formalized as instances of our model.
[co-authored with Carolyn Talcott].

Presenter's profile

Jose Meseguer received his doctortate in Mathematics from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, in 1975. He is currently Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Formerly he was a Principal Scientist at SRI International in Menlo Park, California, and held postdoctoral positions at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and the University of Santiago, Spain.
Dr. Meseguer's reseach interests include: (1) Formal Executable Specification, Programming, and Verification; (2) Concurrent, Distributed, and Mobile Computing; and (3) Logical and Semantic Foundations of Computing. He is particularly well-known for his work on algebraic specification languages, semantic models of distributed object systems, rewriting logic, concurrency theory, general logics, and on the OBJ and Maude languages.

We are observing a dramatic confluence of several different aspects: software components, software as a service, and an ever growing space of Internet and Web standards. Over the past year all major players in the software industry have  announced their support of XML Web Services in one form or another. So, are services here to displace components? And what about our good old objects?
Drawing boundaries that help to understand the key concepts  without obstructing the path towards future development is important but challenging. Concepts such as contracts, specifications, and perhaps even the very notion of correctness need to be rethought. Or are they? A strange feeling of deja vue spreads as we see computer science and software engineering rediscovered - this time at your service.

After years of both academic and entrepreneurial experience, Clemens Szyperski has joined Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington in early 1999, where he works on furthering the principles, technologies, and methods supporting component software. He is the author of the award-winning book "Component Software: Beyond Object-Oriented programming" (Addison Wesley), now in its second edition, and of numerous other publications. He has served on program committees for major international conferences, including ECOOP, ICSE, and OOPSLA and he is a frequent speaker at events of both academic and industrial nature.
Clemens received his Masters in Electrical Engineering in 1987 from the Aachen Institute of Technology, in Germany. He received his PhD in Computer Science in 1992 from ETH Zurich  under the guidance of Niklaus Wirth. After a postdoctoral  fellowship at the International Computer Science Institute at UC Berkeley, he was tenured as associate professor at the    Queensland University of Technology, Australia, where he continues to hold an adjunct professorship. He is a cofounder of  Oberon Microsystems, Inc., Zurich, with its recent spinoff, esmertec inc, also Zurich.

Prof Kristen Nygaard will deliver this year's keynote speech along the banquet. Recently, both the IEEE John von Neumann Medal and ACM Turing Award have been awarded to Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard for the pioneering work they did in the 60's when designing the programming language Simula 67:

19 November 2001 - IEEE: Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard have been awarded the IEEE's 2002 John von Neumann Medal "For the introduction of the concepts underlying object-oriented programming through the design and implementation of SIMULA67."

New York, February 6, 2002 - ACM has presented the 2001 A.M. Turing Award, considered the "Nobel Prize of Computing", to Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard of Norway for their role in the invention of object-oriented programming, the most widely used programming model today. Their work has led to a fundamental change in how software systems are designed and programmed, resulting in reusable, reliable, scalable applications that have streamlined the process of writing software code and facilitated software programming.

2002 will thus be remembered as an exceptional year in the history of Object-Orientation and it is an honour to have Kristen Nygaard as this year's banquet speaker.