Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture: A Pattern Language for Distributed Computing, 4th Volume

Chapter 6. Communication Middleware

Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

This chapter illustrates the application of a key pattern sequence from the pattern language for distributed computing in Part II of this book. It describes the development of the communication middleware that is used for our warehouse management process control system, as well as a wide range of other distributed applications in the warehouse management domain and beyond. This middleware allows clients to invoke operations on distributed objects without concern for object location, programming language, operating system platform, communication protocols or interconnects, and hardware.

A novel aspect of our communication middleware is its highly configurable, scalable, and portable design and implementation, which can be tailored to meet specific application requirements and network/end-system characteristics more easily than crafting the code by hand, or using conventional middleware implementations that are hard-coded to a single set of strategies.

A Middleware Architecture for Distributed Systems

Concrete deployments of our warehouse management process control system typically involve different hardware and software platforms. For example, client applications and user interfaces are often deployed on Windows PCs, sensor and actuators are usually deployed on embedded devices running VxWorks, and Domain Objects (208) that represent business ...