research-article

A generic component model for building systems software

Authors:

Francois Taiani,

Thirunavukkarasu SivaharanAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS), Volume 26, Issue 1

Article No.: 1, Pages 1 - 42

https://doi.org/10.1145/1328671.1328672

Published: 10 March 2008 Publication History

Abstract

Component-based software structuring principles are now commonplace at the application level; but componentization is far less established when it comes to building low-level systems software. Although there have been pioneering efforts in applying componentization to systems-building, these efforts have tended to target specific application domains (e.g., embedded systems, operating systems, communications systems, programmable networking environments, or middleware platforms). They also tend to be 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 maximize the genericity and abstraction potential of the component approach. In this article, we argue for the benefits and feasibility of a generic yet tailorable approach to component-based systems-building that offers a uniform programming model that is applicable in a wide range of systems-oriented target domains and deployment environments. The component model, called OpenCom, is supported by a reflective runtime architecture that is itself built from components. After describing OpenCom and evaluating its performance and overhead characteristics, we present and evaluate two case studies of systems we have built using OpenCom technology, thus illustrating its benefits and its general applicability.

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Index Terms

A generic component model for building systems software
1. Computer systems organization
  1. Embedded and cyber-physical systems
    1. Embedded systems
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Development frameworks and environments
  2. Software organization and properties
    1. Software system structures

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cover image ACM Transactions on Computer Systems

ACM Transactions on Computer Systems Volume 26, Issue 1

February 2008

153 pages

ISSN:0734-2071

EISSN:1557-7333

DOI:10.1145/1328671

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2008 ACM.

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Association for Computing Machinery

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Publication History

Published: 10 March 2008

Accepted: 01 November 2007

Revised: 01 March 2007

Received: 01 January 2006

Published in TOCS Volume 26, Issue 1

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GU JLI HXIA YGUAN HDING ZZHAO YCHEN H(2024)BrickOS: specialized kernels for heterogeneous hardware resourcesSCIENTIA SINICA Informationis10.1360/SSI-2022-041354:3(491)Online publication date: 11-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1360/SSI-2022-0413
Filho RDias RSeródio JPorter BCosta FBorin EBittencourt L(2023)A Self-Distributing System Framework for the Computing Continuum2023 32nd International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN)10.1109/ICCCN58024.2023.10230110(1-10)Online publication date: Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCCN58024.2023.10230110
Filho RBittencourt LPorter BCosta F(2022)Exploiting the Potential of the Edge-Cloud Continuum with Self-distributing Systems2022 IEEE/ACM 15th International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing (UCC)10.1109/UCC56403.2022.00046(255-260)Online publication date: Dec-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/UCC56403.2022.00046
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