Evaluation of ObjectOriented Reflective Models.pdfVIP

Evaluation of Object-Oriented Reflective Models Walter Cazzola DSI-University of Milano, Via Comelico 39-41, 20135 Milano, Italy Phone: (+39) 10 353 6709 Fax: (+39) 10 353 6699 E-mail:cazzola@dsi.unimi.it July 4, 1998 Abstract and to determine the best applicability context for each model. In this paper we explore the object-oriented reflective In section 2 we present computational reflection (sub- world, performing an overview of the existing models section 2.1) and some reflective features to evaluate the and presenting a set of features suitable to evaluate the models (subsection 2.2). In section 3 we present the quality of each reflective model. The purpose of the pa- main reflective models and in section 4 we evaluate them per is to determine the context applicability of each re- using the measures described. In the conclusions we de- flective model examined . termine the applicability context of each model. Keywords: Object-Orientation, Reflection, Reifi- cation, Reflective Model. 2 What one Needs to Know In this section we present computational reflection and 1 Introduction some reflective features (dimensions) which can be used as measures to evaluate the quality of a reflective model. Computational reflection is a programming paradigm suitable to develop open systems. An open system is