Reflections on the Anatomy of Software Composition Languages and Mechanisms

Abstract The aim of this paper is to give some recommendations on the design of software composition languages and mechanisms. To this end, we first propose a conceptual model for software composition. Using this model we explain how existing mechanisms can be understood as software composition mechanisms of different levels of abstraction. Based on the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of several software composition mechanisms, we give some recommendations for their future design.