On the integration of configuration and meta-level programming approaches

Configuration Programming, based on Architecture Description Languages, and Meta-Level Programming are considered promising approaches in the software engineering field. This paper shows that there is an immediate corresponde nce between some key concepts of Configuration and Meta-Level Programming a pproaches and that some of the main issues to be solved for their deploymen t in real systems are quite similar. The main result is that the integratio n of both approaches in a single configuration programming framework cart a ssist in employing meta-level programming in order to achieve separation of concerns and improve software reuse. In addition, the capability of suppor ting dynamic configuration and flexibility on component programming languag e choice are potentially improved. A prototype of a configuration programmi ng centered environment and some application examples are presented in orde r to demonstrate the useful features of the combined approach.