A Taxonomy of Software Composition Mechanisms

Kung-Kiu Lau and Tauseef Rana
School of Computer Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
kung-kiu,trana@cs.man.ac.uk

Abstract:

Software composition aims to provide mechanisms for systematic construction based on well-defined software 
units. Various software composition mechanisms have been defined in the literature for different kinds of 
software units. In component-based development, it is desirable to have software units and composition 
mechanisms that support automated, systematic construction. In this paper, we first survey existing 
definitions of composition units and the corresponding composition mechanisms, and then use the survey to 
propose a taxonomy  that identifies good candidates for composition units and composition mechanisms for 
component-based development.