Using the Object Paradigm for Distributed Application Development

During the last decade, significant progress has been achieved in the area of distributed systems. At the same time, the need for distributed applications has increased heavily. A large number of distributed programming languages to support those kinds of applications is now available. Most of these approaches, however, still fail in providing appropriate levels of distribution abstraction and in supporting the software design stage. The object paradigm with extensions towards distributed systems is a promising base to overcome these shortcomings.In this paper, we analyze existing approaches towards distributed application development and propose foundations for an integrated design method. The method is based on an extension of the classical object paradigm. It provides for tight integration of different aspects and phases of the development process and assures easy extendability concerning tools and application areas. Special aspects of distributed object-oriented application development like object mobility and cooperation are used to demonstrate the suitability of the approach.