An approach to designing reusable service frameworks via virtual service machine

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes a new service-computing platform named Virtual Service Machine (VSM). Service computing is a new paradigm for manufacturing IT artifacts, lifting up traditional focus of software development from the level of applications to that of services. Applications are constructed for machines; services are built for people. Applications are targeted to run on a particular platform; services are aimed for serving user's needs. While service computing is getting much more attention than before, its progress is slow and outcomes are not so gratifying. Many service-computing developers are striving to solve the same problems encountered in their counterparts on application development. Middleware is one of many means to address the issue of development barriers for services. However, current forms and functions of middleware software are still impeded by customary mindsets that have been exercised for last couple of decades. We need a new breed of platforms that can further relieve the developers from low-level platform concerns, e.g. hardware, OS, or even middleware itself. VSM is a way towards more effective service- computing development. It provides developers with a reusable service- computing platform to develop their service- based frameworks and applications. This paper proposes an approach of designing reusable service- computing platform via VSM. VSM works by taking incoming service requests and converting them to the executable tasks of the underlying middleware or machine that it is running on. This paper emphasizes on presenting the functionality and major components inside VSM. The comparative study with other service- computing platforms with not be the focus of this paper.

REFERENCES

• 1: W. Keith Edwards, Core Jini, Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1999
• 2: http://www.upnp.org
• 3: http://www.biztalk.com
• 4: e-Speak Architecture Specification, Hewlett Packard Technical Report, December 1999.
• 5: http://eco.commerc.net
• 6: Dinesh Verma, Supporting Service Level Agreements on IP Networks, Macmillan Technical Publishing, 1999
• 7: Nicholas Carriero , David Gelernter, Linda in context, Communications of the ACM, v.32 n.4, p.444-458, April 1989 [doi>10.1145/63334.63337]
• 8: P. Wyckoff , S. W. McLaughry , T. J. Lehman , D. A. Ford, T spaces, IBM Systems Journal, v.37 n.3, p.454-474, 1998
• 9: P. Wyckoff , S. W. McLaughry , T. J. Lehman , D. A. Ford, T spaces, IBM Systems Journal, v.37 n.3, p.454-474, 1998
• 10: Amy Moormann Zaremski , Jeannette M. Wing, Specification matching of software components, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM), v.6 n.4, p.333-369, Oct. 1997 [doi>10.1145/261640.261641]
• 11: Jun-Jang Jeng , Betty H. C. Cheng, Specification matching for software reuse: a foundation, Proceedings of the 1995 Symposium on Software reusability, p.97-105, April 29-30, 1995, Seattle, Washington, United States
• 12: Tivoli Management Framework, Tivoli Web Site, http://www.tivoli.com/products/index/mgt_framework.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.3 Coding Tools and Techniques
          Subjects: Object-oriented programming

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.3 Software Management
          Subjects: Software development

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Management, Performance, Theory

Keywords:
object-oriented technologies, service computing platform, service framework, software architecture