Bean markup language: A composition language for JavaBeans components

Abstract

Although the benefits of software component composition are today widely accepted, component oriented software development is not yet as widespread as its multiple advantages may suggest. This is so in spite of the maturity reached by several component models (Microsoft's COM, JavaBeans, OMG's C O R B A), and their general acceptance by large communities of developers. Thus, while components are being 'used' in software development, the development process itself is not fully component oriented. One major roadblock limiting the adoption of a component oriented development process is the lack of viable component composition languages. This paper introduces a component composition language specifically designed for the composition of JavaBeans components. The Bean Markup Language (BML) supports component composition in a first-class manner. BML has language constructs for describing inter-component bindings, for constructing aggregates of components, for macro expansion and for implementing certain types of recursive compositions. Further, it allows the specification of "glue code" in any traditional scripting language (for example, JavaScript) to enable powerful adaptation during composition.