Towards context-aware propagators: language constructs for context-aware adaptation dependencies

A context-aware system needs to reason about its current context of use and select applicable adaptations to activate or deactivate. This process is complex as often multiple contexts are available and improper interpretation of adaptation dependencies may lead to inconsistent or annoying system behaviour. This paper proposes a programming language support for defining context-aware dependencies between adaptations. Our model is based on the ideas of the propagator computational model to provide support for multiple dependencies that can coexist even if they contradict. Our proposed model is analogous to relationships and multiplicities in the modelling approaches. In addition, rather than fixed dependencies between adaptations, our model allows these dependencies to change depending on the context of use.