Persistence in Open Distributed Systems: The COMET Approach
Abstract:
Open Distributed Processing (ODP) has gained considerable attention in the past few years, as a result of user demand for large-scale cooperative computing. A typical characteristic of ODP environments is the presence of many users, with various needs requiring a wide range of different solutions. The challenge is to develop a uniform framework, that captures all these differences, yet presents a simple programming model to the user. The COMET system applies object-oriented technology to tackle the problems associated with distributed computing in a heterogeneous internetwork environment. It offers a uniform programming model based on typed object memory and location-independent object invocation. Through specialization of the basic model, mechanisms offering extended functionality can be added to the COMET kernel in a manner, transparent to the application programmer. This paper illustrates the COMET approach, by demonstrating how persistence support can be incorporated, through specialization of the basic programming model. The same approach can be applied to other problem areas, e.g. for the realization of replicated and atomic objects. 1.
