Matthias Anlauff

Enhanced Control Flow Graphs in Montages

A semi-visual framework for the specification of syntax and semantics of imperative programming languages, called Montages, was proposed in an earlier work by the authors. The primary aim of this formalism is to assist in recording the decisions taken by the designer during the language design process. The associated tool Gem-Mex allows the designer to maintain the specification and to inspect the semantics to verify whether the design decisions have been properly formalized. Experience with full-scale case studies on Oberon, Java, and domain specific languages showed the close relationship to Finite State Machines (FSMs). This paper gives a new definition of Montages based on FSMs. It confers to the formalism enhanced pragmatic qualities, such as writability, extensibility, readability, and, in general, ease of maintenance.

Generating an action notation environment from Montages descriptions

Abstract.In this paper, we present an implementation of action notation based on a formal and modular specification of its semantics. This specification allows an automatic generation of an environment consisting of an interpreter and a debugger which allows the visualization of an action notation program execution and relates it to the given formal specification. The semantic description presented here is based on Montages, which is a semi-visual formalism for the specification of the syntax and semantics of programming languages. The tool support for Montages, called Gem-Mex, is used to execute the action notation specification and thereby generate an environment for executing action notation programs. Moreover, the specification maintains and refines the structuring of actions in terms of facets and thus ensures that the modularity present in action notation is retained in its semantic description.

Using Domain-Specific Languages for the Realization of Component Composition

In recent years, component-based development has evolved to one of the key technologies in software engineering, because it provides a promising way to deal with large scale software developments. Due to this, the realization of component interactions has become an important task while implementing a system being assembled from (existing) components. Scripting languages, like Perl, Tcl, Unix-Shell, are often used for implementing this so-called glue code, because they provide a flexible way to process string-based input, the most common data structures used for component interactions. However, often it turns out that the algorithms of the component interactions are too sophisticated to be adequately expressed in this kind of languages. In this paper, we propose the use of language technology for that purpose: the strings passed between the components are treated as sentences in specialized component interaction languages (CIL). The syntax of such a language defines the input format of the components to be interconnected, and the semantics represents the functionality of the glue code. The appropriateness of this approach depends on the methodology and support functionality available for designing these languages. We report on the positive experiences using Montages as methodology. We will also describe the support functionality of the Gem-Mex tool containing its graphical animation and debugging facilities, which can be used as vehicle for the comprehension of the interplay between the components of the overall system.

Deploying localization services in wireless sensor networks

In wireless sensor networks, localization is one of the key issues in many applications, where a number of wireless sensor devices are used, for instance, to locate one or more (moving) targets. Typical examples are pursuer/invader applications, where the wireless devices are spread over an area and have to collectively determine the position of an invader based on sensor information available on the devices. We present practical results concerning two of the key issues in the deployment of localization services in wireless sensor networks: the selection of appropriate sensors for collecting the data used in the localization algorithms and localization algorithm itself. We are showing some practical results concerning both issues and compare some of the algorithms we have used in our experiments.

Tool Support for Language Design and Prototyping with Montages

In this paper, we describe the tool Gem-Mex, supporting Montages, a visual formalism for the specification of (imperative/object oriented) programming languages.

Towards Component Based Systems: Refining Connectors

Abstract Component-oriented software development is becoming more and more important for the production of large-scale software applications. Todays systems are constructed by combining different software components rather than built from scratch. Provided component interfaces or informal descriptions are not enough for designing reliable software systems. Therefore we need precise description means for formulating component behavior without uncovering implementation details of the component. In this paper, we will present a model for the design of component-based software systems, where the design aspects of connectors between components play a central role. We will therefore introduce the concept of connector refinement allowing to abstract from technical connector implementations on the design level of a system.