Componentware and composable software architecture

To make componentware happen, it needs to explore the collective behavior of components at levels of software architecture. Componentware or CBSE (Component-Based Software Engineering) is promising to change the way we develop software. A variety of software components are available at different levels of software architecture. To explore the matching of components across the different technology groups, we have conducted a number of experiments in part of the Software CALS NGSE (Next Generation Software Engineering Program) in Japan. We developed a single prototype application with multiple combinations of technologies such as ActiveX-and-CORBA, multiple CORBAs, CORRA-Web and CORBA-and-legacy-code. Major problems we encountered include: 1) different interface models; 2) poor interface information such as behavior information; 3) poor interface-centric design methodology and architecture design methodology; 4) poor non functional information of components.