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The Lost Art of Abstraction

  • Conference paper
Architecting Dependable Systems III

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 3549))

Abstract

System abstractions such as virtual memory simplify the construction of software by hiding details of the underlying system and by providing higher-level functionality on which to build. While the value of building systems as layers or hierarchies of abstractions has long been known, the application of this principle has been uneven when it comes to using it as the basis for architecting dependable distributed systems. This paper gives an overview of issues that arise when using abstractions in this area and proposes some approaches to addressing these issues. The latter include the use of translucent abstractions that expose some of the internal workings of the abstraction implementation, customizable abstractions that allow attributes to be matched to the application requirements and execution scenario, and an intrusion-stop process abstraction that potentially provides a basis for architecting survivable systems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. AT&T Labs – Research, 180 Park Avenue, Florham Park, NJ, 07932, USA

    Matti A. Hiltunen & Richard D. Schlichting

Authors
  1. Matti A. Hiltunen
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  2. Richard D. Schlichting
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computing Laboratory, University of Kent,  

    Rogério de Lemos

  2. School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Cristina Gacek

  3. Computer Science School, Newcastle University, UK

    Alexander Romanovsky

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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Hiltunen, M.A., Schlichting, R.D. (2005). The Lost Art of Abstraction. In: de Lemos, R., Gacek, C., Romanovsky, A. (eds) Architecting Dependable Systems III. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3549. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11556169_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11556169_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-28968-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31648-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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