APRICOTS - A Prototype Implementation of a ConTract System: Management of the Control Flow and the Communication System

The principle of transactions has been proven in the field of database systems. However, there are many fields where classical transactions are not suitable to model the actions of the ‘real world’. An approach to extend the principle of transactions is the ConTract model, which weakens some demands of the ACID-principle, but at the same time includes other features. In this article, we introduce an approach to implement a ConTract system. Especially, we dwell on the implementation issues of a component for the reliable control flow management and of a transaction-oriented communication system. All methods discussed in this article are developed at the IPVR in a project sponsored by the DFG (German Research Society) called: ‘Objektbanken für Experten’ (Objectbases for Experts)[1] . Friedemann Schwenkreis University of Stuttgart Institute for Parallel and Distributed High Performance Systems (IPVR) Breitwiesenstr. 20-22, 70565 Stuttgart, Germany email: [email protected]