Yasmin: a component based architecture for software applications

Object-oriented programming (OOP) has changed the way we produce software applications significantly, and has allowed many problems that affected traditional programming to be overcome. Unfortunately, several object-oriented frameworks have misused OOP techniques, failed to address issues such as application extensibility, and have produced monolithic systems that are hard to manage and tailor. This paper describes Yasmin, a new object-oriented component-based architecture for software applications. It allows one to build applications which use system resources efficiently and which can be easily extended and configured, in addition to being simple to program and to compose. This is achieved by means of droplets, a new type of software components that can be replaced and modified at run-time and by exploiting novel techniques such as collaboration and delegation.