A hypertext system for integrating heterogeneous, autonomous software repositories (original) (raw)

Chimera: Hypertext for heterogeneous software environments

1994

ABSTRACT Emerging software development environments are characterized by heterogeneity they are composed of diverse object stores, user interfaces, and tools. This paper presents an approach for providing hypertext services in this heterogeneous setting. Central notions of the approach include the following. Anchors are established with respect to interactive views of objects, rather than the objects themselves.

Building application dependent hypertexts

Information Processing & Management, 1997

The Konstanz Hypertext System offers a domain-specific developmental environment for the construction of large hypertexts. Through its flexibility, the structuring means employed in the Konstanz Hypertext System offers an instrument which permits one to respond directly to the demands relevant to specific applications in the construction of hypertexts. Especially the integration of information obtained from external resources is emphasized. After a discussion of the information sources which can be connected to the KHS a short introduction to the hypertext model of the KHS is provided. The role of structuring means in the integration of external information is pointed out. The scope of possible applications and the flexibility of the system are demonstrated by the following three comprehensive examples: resource discovery of online databases, management of electronic mail and the compilation of an issue of an electronic journal.

HDM---a model for the design of hypertext applications

Proceedings of the third annual ACM conference on Hypertext - HYPERTEXT '91, 1991

We present the latest developments of HDM, a design model for Hypertext Applications. The basic features of HDM are the representation of applications through several design primitives: typed entities composed of hierarchies of component different perspectives for each componen~units corresponding to component-perspective pairs; bodies representing the actual content of the units; structural links, binding together components or sub-entities of the same entity; typed application links, interconnecting components belonging to different entities; and a spccitlc browsing semantics based on anchors, as a way to activate many different link types from within a unit. The development of HDM is part of the HYTEA project, carried on by a European consortium, aiming at the development of a set of authoring tools for an "engineered development of Hypertext-Hypermedia applications. A HYTEA application is made by an HDM schema and an HDM Hyperbase (i.e., a set of instances). The basic HDM has already been shown to be translatable, either manually or through a compiler, into a nodeand-link model ("a la DEXTER model"); the translated application can be targeted on several implementation tools (i.e., standard Hypertext tools already available on the market). HDM has already been used to develop a (small number) of applications, and to describe preexisting applications. These experiments have shown the need for improvements that are discussed in the papec aggregate entities; sharing of components; is-a relationships and inheritance between entity types; sharing of bodies; structured access and "guided tours"; use of active media (animations and video-clips).

Revisiting Hypertext Infrastructure

Proceedings of the 28th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media

Specialized systems aiming at o ering hypertext functionality in users' computing have been discussed since the early days of hypertext. However, with the claim to also support other structure domains than node-link structures, hypertext systems had to overcome some challenges. Researchers came up with component-based approaches and low level structure services. Due to the raising omnipresence of the Web, research on traditional hypertext systems has been fading out over the past decade. is paper focuses again on hypertext infrastructures and goes beyond ongoing Web discussions. Based on lessons learned from well thought through previous work, we present a novel design for multi-structure supporting, general purpose hypertext systems that can be used in a series of application domains. e system provides intelligence analysis which is needed for sophisticated user support. We argue that this lets us use the hypertext system also as a visual analytics tool. Furthermore, for demonstration purposes we describe the use of the system in combination with a Web-based so ware engineering platform, which is part of the ongoing project ODIN. CCS CONCEPTS •Human-centered computing →Hypertext / hypermedia; •So ware and its engineering →So ware infrastructure;

SHORE – A Hypertext Repository in the XML World

2001

Large software projects using several programming languages, modeling and documentation methods make high demands on their repository. The sd&m Hypertext Object Repository (SHORE) stores information extracted from XML documents. These documents are generated by parsers that convert project documents of any type into XML. SHORE uses its own model architecture. The submission shows how SHORE’s model architecture is mapped to the four level model architecture of the XML Metadata Interchange (XMI) described with the Meta Object Facility (MOF). Using this mapping, SHORE can be complemented by other XMI capable tools. This approach proves especially valuable in multi-language environments and for reengineering purposes. The mapping is only one example of how the repository benefits from the integration of XML-based technologies. The paper closes with a discussion on our experience with XML up to now and how its use strengthens the extensibility of the repository for the future.

Autonomous Layer for Data Integration in a Virtual Repository

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2006

The paper describes a self-operating integration mechanism for virtual repository's distributed resources based on object-oriented databases in a grid architecture. The core architecture is based on the SBA theory and its virtual updateable views. Our virtual repository transparently processes heterogeneous data producing conceptually and semantically coherent results. Our integration apparatus is explained by two examples with different types of fragmentations -horizontal and vertical. A transparent integration process exploits a global index mechanism and an independent virtual P2P network for a communication between distributed databases. Researches presented in the paper are based on a prototype integrator which is currently under development.

A Hypertext Environment for Interacting with Large Textual Databases

Information Processing and Management, 1992

paper presents a design and implementation project based on a two-level conceptual architecture for the construction of a hypertext environment for interacting with large textual databases. The conceptual architecture has been proposed to be used for a semantic representation of the informative content of a collection of documents and for the organisation of the document collection itself. The hypertext environment is based on a set of functions that permits one to exploit the potential capabilities of the two-level architecture. Those functions are presented in detail. The paper reports some results of a more general project whose final goal is the definition of a new model for information retrieval: a model with information retrieval capabilities embedded within a hypertext environment. Finally, an outline is presented of the characteristics of a prototype, named HYPERLINE, of the hypertext environment. This prototype has been developed by the Information Retrieval Service of the European Space Agency (ESA-IRS)

Information resources management in heterogeneous, distributed environments: A metadatabase approach

IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 1991

Repository systems have emerged recently as a cornerstone to information management. Their envisaged purposes include (1) applications development in a CASE (Computer-Aided Software Engineering) environment, (2) enterprise information resources management (as a passive kernel for information integration), and (3) global information processing and management (as an active facilitator/integrator). Accordingly, their contents comprise metadata that model functional (sub-)systems and metadata that formulate systems interactions. In other words, the scope of metadata encompasses both data resources and knowledge, and hence requires new methods and techniques to manage these information resources in a unified way. Most previous metadata systems are limited to containing only data resources models. A metadatabase system is being developed at Rensselaer for information integration in heterogeneous and distributed environments. This paper presents its core structure, the GIRD (Global Information Resources Dictionary) model for unified metadata representation and management (both data and knowledge). Current implementation, some illustrative examples, and a comparison with the IRDS model are also included. Hsu, et. al.