DeXteR

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In Java RMI, the runtime type of an object determines the passing semantics used for a remote method. Thus, an object can only be passed to a remote method in one manner. However, this limits programmer flexibility and may create future software maintenance issues. The DeXteR framework provides support for a declarative approach, which alleviates these problems by allowing the server programmer to declare how a remote method's parameters should be passed. Using a combination of Aspect-Oriented and Generative programming techniques, DeXteR transforms a type-based remote parameter passing model to a declaration-based model transparently. Even more interestingly, DeXteR enables extending the native set of remote parameter passing semantics at application space, without requring detailed understanding of the underlying RMI implementation.