Towards constructing component-based software systems with safe dynamic adaptability

Abstract

In a software system, dynamic adaptability is the ability for dynamic adaptation on runtime environments. A software system with dynamic adaptability can adapt itself to the changes of runtime environments by changing its own behavior in dynamic & flexible way. Such dynamic adaptability can be considered as a basic mechanism of software evolution. We have proposed a software model with dynamic adaptability named DAS and its description language named LEAD++. In this paper, we consider about safety issues on dynamic adaptability of component-based software systems and propose an improved DAS model named Safe DAS. The safety means that adaptable behavior of component-based software systems does not violate their consistency. The Safe DAS model supports exceptions & assertions mechanisms, atomicity & serialization of adaptable behavior and a unique mechanism named dynamic assertions.