Second International Workshop on Composition Languages

In conjunction with
16th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP)
Málaga, Spain
June 11, 2002

[Motivation] [Call for Papers] [Topics] [Submissions and Participation] [Important Dates] [Organizers]

Call for Papers

Motivation

A component-based software engineering approach mainly consists of two development steps: (i) the specification and implementation of components and (ii) the composition of components into composites or applications. Currently, there is considerable experience in component technology and many resources are spent for the first step, which resulted in the definition of component models and components such as CORBA, COM, JavaBeans, and more recently EJB and .NET. However, much less effort is spent in investigating appropriate techniques that allow application developers to express applications flexibly as compositions of components. Existing composition environments mainly focus on special application domains and offer at best rudimentary support for the integration of components that were built in a system other than the actual deployment environment.

The goal of this workshop is to bring together researchers and practitioners in the area of component-based software development in order to address problems concerning the design and implementation of composition languages and to develop a common understanding of the corresponding concepts. We would also like to determine the strengths and weaknesses of composition languages and compare it with similar approaches in related fields. In this workshop, we intend to continue the fruitful discussions started at the first workshop on composition languages (WCL 2001), which was held in conjunction with ESEC/FSE 2001.

The main focus of the workshop will be on language issues for composing components into applications, and not on component-based systems in general. In particular, we would like to emphasize the important issues of (i) the design and implementation of higher-level languages for component-based software development, (ii) approaches that combine architectural description, component configuration, and component composition, (iii) paradigms for the specification of reusable software assets, (iv) expressing applications as compositions of software components, and (v) the derivation of working systems using composition languages and components. Furthermore, we would particularly like to encourage authors to submit position statements focusing on formal aspects of the issues mentioned above and case studies of using composition languages for real-world applications.

The main expected results of the workshop would be an outline of collaborative research topics and a list of areas for further exploration. Additionally, the results collected during the workshop will be presented to the rest of the ECOOP community in the form of a poster at the same conference.

Topics

The goal of this workshop is to bring together both researchers and practitioners. By focusing on important aspects of the design and implementation of composition languages, this workshop aims to address the specific problems of existing composition systems. Suggested topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Submissions and Participation

All submissions will be peer-reviewed by at least two reviewers of the workshop paper selection committee. Based on the quality and originality, the best position statements will be presented at the workshop. The workshop will be organized in several sessions, each dedicated to a particular subject of common interest. Instead of splitting the workshop into task forces, we intend to provoke lively discussion by preparing lists of critical questions and topics, which will be published and distributed to the participants prior to the workshop.

Authors are encouraged to address any aspects of the design and implementation of composition languages in their position statements. We solicit submissions on original research in the form of extended abstracts. Submissions should not exceed 8 pages (with a minimum 11pt font) and must have a cover page including the paper title, abstract, names and affiliations of authors, postal contact addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers. In addition, we ask the authors to include a list of critical questions and/or some, perhaps provocative, statements at the end of their submission which will assist the organizers to define topics for discussion in advance. Submissions should be sent in an electronic format (PDF or Postscript) to Markus Lumpe and preferably prepared for letter or A4 sizes using Springer LNCS-style.

All selected submissions will be made available online prior to the workshop and be published by one of the affiliated organizations. Aspects of the best position statements as well as the workshop results will be discussed in a chapter of the ECOOP Workshop reader. The results of the workshop will also be presented to the rest of the ECOOP community in the form of a poster at the conference. We are investigating having a special issue of a journal for revisions of selected papers after the workshop.

Important Dates

Position paper due: April 15, 2002
Notification of acceptance: April 29, 2002
Deadline for early registration: May 6, 2002
Camera ready copy: May 15, 2002
Workshop: June 11, 2002

Workshop Organizers

Paper Selection Committee: