This book is the outcome of an international research seminar on objects, agents, and features held at Dagstuhl Castle, Germany in February 2003.
In recent years, concepts in object-oriented modeling and programming have been extended in variuos directions, giving rise to new paradigms such as agent-orientation and feature orientation. This book explores the relationship between the original paradigm and the two new ones.
The 12 revised full papers presented together with an introductery overview by the volume editors were carefully reviewed and improved for publication. Among the topics addressed are agent coordination in object-orientation, feature orientation, components and feature interaction, software evolution, agent modeling and analysis, agent interaction, component-based systems, formal specification of agents, and feature engineering.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science Edited by G. Goos, J. Hartmanis, and J. van Leeuwen 2975 Mark D. Ryan John-Jules Ch. Meyer Hans-Dieter Ehrich (Eds.) Objects, Agents, and Features International Seminar Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, February 16-21, 2003 Revised and Invited Papers 13 Series Editors Gerhard Goos, Karlsruhe University, Germany Juris Hartmanis, Cornell University, NY, USA Jan van Leeuwen, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Volume Editors Mark D. Ryan University of Birmingham, School of Computer Science Birmingham B15 2TT, UK E-mail:
[email protected] John-Jules Ch. Meyer Utrecht University, Institute of Information and Computing Sciences Intelligent Systems Group Padualaan 14, De Uithof, P.O. Box 80.089 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands E-mail:
[email protected] Hans-Dieter Ehrich Technische Universität Braunschweig, Abteilung Informationssysteme Postfach 3329, 38023 Braunschweig, Germany E-mail:
[email protected] Library of Congress Control Number: Applied for CR Subject Classification (1998): D.2, D.3, D.1.5, D.1.3, C.2.4, I.2.11, F.3 ISSN 0302-9743 ISBN 3-540-21989-7 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer-Verlag. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. Springer-Verlag is a part of Springer Science+Business Media springeronline.com © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004 Printed in Germany Typesetting: Camera-ready by author, data conversion by Olgun Computergrafik Printed on acid-free paper SPIN: 11006299 06/3142 543210 Preface In recent years, concepts in object-oriented modeling and programming have been extended in several directions, giving rise to new paradigms such as agentorientation and feature-orientation. This volume came out of a Dagstuhl seminar exploring the relationship between the original paradigm and the two new ones. Following the success of the seminar, the idea emerged to edit a volume with contributions from participants – including those who were invited but could not come. The participants’ reaction was very positive, and so we, the organizers of the seminar