A Theory of Distributed Objects

Distributed and communicating objects are becoming ubiquitous. In global,
Grid and Peer-to-Peer computing environments, extensive use is made of
objects interacting through method calls. So far, no general formalism has
been proposed for the foundation of such systems.

Caromel and Henrio are the first to define a calculus for distributed
objects interacting using asynchronous method calls with generalized
futures, i.e., wait-by-necessity -- a must in large-scale systems, providing both high structuring
and low coupling, and thus scalability. The authors provide very generic
results on expressiveness and determinism, and the potential of their
approach is further demonstrated by its capacity to cope with advanced
issues such as mobility, groups, and components.

Researchers and graduate students will find here an extensive review of
concurrent languages and calculi, with comprehensive figures and summaries.

Developers of distributed systems can adopt the many implementation
strategies that are presented and analyzed in detail.

Denis Caromel

Last modified: Tue May 17 13:15:57 MEST 2005