tutorials

30	sunday afternoon	Waterfront Centre Hotel, Waterfront Ballroom B
30W	wednesday afternoon	Pan Pacific Hotel, Gazebo I/II

Scripting: Higher-Level Programming for Component-Based Systems

Jean-Guy Schneider and Oscar Nierstrasz, Software Composition Group, University of Berne

Complex software systems are increasingly required to be open, flexible conglomerations of software components. Components cannot be used in an arbitrary way, but according to architectural styles that determine how components are plugged together. System programming languages only offer limited support for gluing components in a flexible and extensible way and for explicitly representing higher level design elements in applications. Scripting languages, however, are designed for gluing: they are intended for adapting, configuring, and plugging together existing components, and achieve a higher level of programming than system programming languages. The use of scripting languages also encourages the development of reusable components (i.e., "bricks") highly focused on the solution of particular problems, and the assembly of these components with scripts (i.e., "glue").

This tutorial gives participants an overview of scripting, scripting languages, and scripting paradigms; demonstrates how scripting languages can be used to glue, adapt, and extend existing components; and illustrates the influence of scripting languages in the development of component-based frameworks and applications.

Attendee Background: Participants should have general knowledge in object-oriented concepts. Familiarity with a scripting language (e.g., Tcl/Tk, Python, Perl, Visual Basic) will be useful, but not required.

Jean-Guy Schneider works as a research assistant in the Software Composition Group at the Institute for Computer Science and Applied Mathematics of the University of Berne, Switzerland. His main interests are in object-oriented and parallel programming, scripting and glue languages, and the definition of formal methods for component-based software engineering

Oscar Nierstrasz is Professor of Computer Science at the Institute of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics of the University of Berne where he leads the Software Composition Group. He is interested in all aspects of component-oriented software technology, and particularly in the design and implementation of high-level specification languages and tools to support reusability and evolution of open applications.

Scripting: Higher-Level Programming for Component-Based Systems

Other tutorials in the component-based development thread are: