Development of a collaborative application in CSDL

Abstract

Cooperative system programming deals with four topics: multiuser interfaces, coordination, shared workspace, and networking control. The goal of CSDL (Cooperative Systems Design Language) is to cover all these aspects. The authors present the development of a system in CSDL. The system allows a group of physically distributed users to edit a document concurrently. It permits sharing the single-user editor xedit by multiplexing the application's outputs to each participant, while inputs come from one user at a time. A simple floor control policy allows participants to designate who has that right. A detailed presentation of the coordination layer, and a discussion of system architecture are included.<>