Creol (A formal framework for reflective component modelling)

Open distributed systems consist of geographically spread system components subject to run-time modifications. These systems are becoming increasingly important in modern society, for instance for safety-critical infrastructure. A major challenge for safety-critical open distributed systems is to ensure the reliability and correctness of the overall system when components are dynamically modified, so that development, maintenance, and upgrade of system components happen in a controlled manner.The CREOL project is a research project to investigate programming constructs and reasoning control in the context of open distributed systems, and in particular the issue of maintenance control, taking an object-oriented approach. The project focuses on support for component adaptability, combined with a platform for executable specification and analysis of system models. This allows an investigation at two levels: a theoretical framework for reasoning about software and software updates, and a tool for practical experimentation with the consequences and possibilities of the theoretical choices. The goal of the project is to develop a formal framework and tool for reasoning about dynamic and reflective modifications in open distributed systems, ensuring reliability and correctness of the overall system.