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CW 415

Yves Vandewoude, Peter Ebraert, Yolande Berbers, and Theo D'Hondt
Influence of type systems on dynamic software evolution

Abstract

Currently, no programming language support exists for dynamic software evolution. Additional effort is required from developers to compensate for this lack of support. In this paper we analyze and categorize the most important aspects a programming language should offer in order to adequately support dynamic software evolution. We subsequently analyze the suitability of existing programming languages for dynamic software evolution. Their type system is taken as a distinguishing characteristic and the impact of the type system on many different aspects of dynamic software evolution is investigated. The main contribution of our paper is a table that summarizes our findings and clearly shows that a more flexible type system implies more power to carry out runtime changes but at a cost of reduced security. This table can be used by application developers to select a suitable language for their project or by language designers in the quest for a dynamic adaptation language.