Towards a framework for analyzing context-oriented programming languages

Abstract

Context-aware systems keep on emerging in all of our daily activities. To cope with this new situation, programming languages were extended to support the notion of context. Although context-oriented programming languages exist for over 15 years, they were tested for their suitability in developing context-aware systems only to a limited extent. In this paper, we propose a framework for analyzing context-oriented languages from that viewpoint. In this framework, we refer to context definition and activation, reasoning capabilities, process aspects of how to work with the suggested extension, and pragmatic considerations. To demonstrate the use of the framework, we applied it to a relatively new context-oriented programming paradigm, namely context-oriented behavioral programming. The proposed framework can support users of context-oriented programming languages in deciding on the most fitted language for their purpose. Developers of context-oriented programming languages can also use the framework to improve such languages and their supporting tools.