Jeff@acm.org
Current meta-level architectures structure the meta-level by drawing on constructs found in base-level languages (e.g., classes). As a result, meta-level behaviours described in one architecture (i.e., for one language) are not directly reusable in another. That is, by the very nature of their design, current meta-levels do not support effective software engineering. A more effective technique is to decompose the meta-level of an object according to its dynamic operational behaviour rather than its static structure. Furthermore, the use of a uniform and generic framework for structuring meta-level behaviour descriptions facilitates combination and reuse independent of base-level object constructs. Using such an architecture we can move objects between vastly differing computational models with little change to the their base-level code. In this paper we present an architecture based on such a framework and show how current language constructs and meta-level structuring mechanisms are described in a reusable and ultimately, more powerful way.