Exploiting late binding in object messaging for implementing object replication

ABSTRACT

Object replication, within object-oriented applications, is a powerful mechanism for flexible and transparent implementation of functionalities such as fault-tolerance, dynamic reconfiguration and distribution management. The approach, presented in this paper, shows the benefits of exploiting a messaging function based on late binding between the method name and the method code. The modification of the code, performing the late binding in the messaging function, permits the dynamic placement of the hook for network message passing which is necessary for object replication between any two objects. This achieves maximal encapsulation of fault-tolerance mechanisms. Additional knowledge of the control-flow of the application (a dynamic data-flow, for example) helps in the control of reentrancy within the modified messaging function in order to reduce the use of network bandwidth and, in order to guarantee any request ordering that might be required by the semantics of object replication.

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