Abstract

An approach to arrangement of component responsibilities in a componentbased software system is proposed, in which black-box components constitute the major building blocks and perform the main part of computation while whitebox adapter components enhance their interoperability. We recommend a technique in which components contribute to the construction of the adapters in a structured way. A component supplies one or more customizable classes to be used in implementation of the portion of the adapter associated with that component. Through various examples we investigate the advantages and feasibility of using customizable adapters that compensate for the inevitable gaps between interacting components' interfaces. Their usage allows a blackbox component to be designed as concise as possible, i.e. providing a (minimal) interface that is confined to its functionality, and assuming the most convenient interface from the components it makes use of. An important outcome of this conciseness ...

Citations