Meta-Modeling for Distributed Object Environments

Meta-modeling is critical to the success of distributed object environments such as CORBA and ActiveX/ DCOM. However, there is a surprisingly large variation in the nature of the meta-models (and meta-meta-models) that have been proposed for such environments. This paper investigates this phenomenon by examining the basic tenets of meta-modeling in the context of distributed object environments, and by defining the basic properties required of a suitable meta-modeling framework. The paper is not concerned with the content of the meta-models, per se, but rather with the form that this content should take, and the rules that it should adhere to. The ramifications of these rules on the notations and languages for distributed object environments are then considered.