Quarterware: A Middleware Toolkit of Software RISC Components

Abstract

Middleware systems are useful because they simplify application development. However, they are difficult to build and modify in the presence of changing application requirements and technology. Most existing middleware systems are static and hard to change. This makes them unsuitable for long running programs in dynamic environments. This thesis presents a customization based approach to overcome these problems. It introduces the Quarterware architecture, a middleware construction technique and a toolkit. The Quarterware system simplifies middleware development by abstracting common properties across the domain of middleware. Further, users can statically and dynamically customize it to reflect the changing application requirements and environments. This thesis demonstrates the benefits of this approach by customizing the Quarterware framework to implement a number of existing middleware specifications, and by extending the framework to implement properties such as replication. The thesis also proposes Software RISC, a technique for organizing and optimizing component-based systems. The advantages of Software RISC are demonstrated using the flexibility and performance of Quarterware.