Towards an algebra of architectural connectors: a case study on synchronization for mobility

To cope with the flexibility and extensibility needed for the specification of the architecture of evolving software systems, it is useful to have a set of primitive connectors from which new ones can be created in a systematic way as needs arise and to connect components only when they are required to interact. This could be achieved with a connector algebra whose constants are given primitive connectors and whose operations allow the (transient) creation of new connectors. This paper is a step towards that goal. We put forward an application-independent connector for partial action synchronization and three generic operations. Applied to the basic connector they provide application-specific connectors for inhibition and full synchronization of actions. Moreover, we associate to each connector a condition stating when it should be applied to components.