Advanced programming language for global computing
Global computing research is focusing on the generation of general-purpose computer systems to satisfy and exceed the needs of a distributed world. Developed global computing techniques have possible useful applications in various domains including web services, ambient intelligence or grids. Independently of the application domain, the global availability of computational infrastructures may be exploited to offer uniform services for secure, mobile and ubiquitous computation. Aiming to advance global computing, the MIKADO project specified and produced prototypes of new formal models for programming of highly distributed and mobile systems. In addition, new specification and analysis techniques were introduced in order to improve the safety and trustworthiness of computer systems. All these were built on the basic concept of domain for reliable, distributed, mobile computation. Moreover, the domain element formed the mathematical basis for a secure standard for distributed computing in open systems. One of the key project results involved the Kernel Language for Agents Interaction and Mobility (KLAIM), an experimental language for global computing. It constitutes a unique paradigm for moving processes, for example data from one computing environment to another and supports programming with explicit localities. It is comprised of a LINDA coordination model with multiple distributed tuple spaces, which are multisets of sequences of information items and a set of operators for building processes. Based on KLAIM, a full-fledged programming language called X-KLAIM was implemented on top of a runtime system developed in Java for reasons of portability. X-KLAIM combines the benefits of programming various distributed applications with agents and code mobility along with the capability of running over different platforms due to its compilation in Java. This language allows exchange of data and processes as well as programming mobile agents to retrieve information over the net. For more information on the project click at: http://mikado.di.fc.ul.pt/
