ArachneToolkitforDistributedComponent-basedS
ystemsDevelopmentAbstractArachneisatoolkitfo
rdistributedcomponent-basedcomputingthatisth
eproductofseveralgrant-fundedsoftwaredevelop
mentprojectsinadvancedhealthcarecomputing.Ou
rworkonArachnehasbeendrivenbythedevelopmento

tclasses.Allofthesesu b-systemsarebeingdistri
ndedtofacilitatecolla borativedevelopmentindo
elopmentgroupisreused byanother,andintegratio
warecomponentsfromspe cificdevelopmentlanguag
gArachne,wesoughttofa cilitatethereuseofsoftw
mainssuchasthis,where complexproblemsarebeing
tegratedhospital-wide computinginfrastructure
pabilitieswouldvaryac cordingtothenatureofthe
thclinicalworkstation design,softwarecustomiz
ewandexistingunits,an dthatenablesthecost-eff
lsurgicalplanning;tel econferencingandtelemed
fexperimentalintegrat edhealthcaresoftwaresys
nablesmorecompleteand effectiveintegrationofn
iderablemodificationb eforeitiswell-suitedfor
hopedtoformalizesomeg enericanddomain-specifi
oftwareinadistributed enterprisecontext.Inord
LtoC++compilation,int erfacerepository,dynami
oprovideafacilityforz ero-costevaluationandtr
gAPI,debuggingutiliti es,andbasicdatastructur
mstofuturearchitectur es,thismethodologyisint
edsoftwarearchitectur es.Theconstructionofain
tothepatientrecord;vi ewingandarchivingofdiag
thehospital,thehomeso fcrucialpersonnel,andco
ay:CU-Basiccross-plat formutilitiesforC/C++de
blemeaningfulsharingo fsoftwarefunctionalityi
user'swork,thenatureo fthetaskathand,andevent
msintryingtodevelopso ftwarecost-effectivelyi
rrentlyitisrarethatso ftwaredevelopedbyonedev
andeveninoverallflowo fworkandmethodologyinpr
estproblemindevelopin ganenterprise-widecompu
ainingintheObjectMana gementGroupstandard,the
thedynamicnatureoflar gesoftwaresystems,thate
marilyatprovidinginte grationframeworks,GUIob
n,development,andinte grationtechnologies.Suc
tinginfrastructureist hedynamicnatureoftheins
noptionsarelimitedbyt hepredominant'verticall
wer(andbetter)unoffic ialreleasebycontactingu
tualmainframe-likeenv ironments.Arachneisinte
bilities.Theintention istoenablethelong-range
catedoff-site.Capabil itieswouldincludeaccess
withoutimposingprohib itivesoftwaredevelopmen
twaresub-systems.Avai labilityArachneisavaila
antinvestmentingenera lizedsoftwareinfrastruc
velopmentlayer.GEN-Fu llCORBAimplementation(n
t,pleaserefertothefol lowingmaterials:Arachne
hneandourapproachtoco mponent-baseddevelopmen
jectimplementations,a ndapplicationdevelopmen
npartthroughresearcha ndinpartcommercially.Cu
ectServices.AOS-Arach neObjectServices,includ
sdevelopment.AC-Arach neclasslibrary,aimedpri
waresystems,fromcompo nentsdevelopedovertimei
s,andarbitrarycomputi ngservices;monitoringan
ecross-platformenviro nmentforthedevelopment,
llaboratinginstitutio ns.Informationandcomput
ture.Inmedicine,eachi nstitutiondiffersconsid
atedassortedclinicali nstrumentation,andworks
tallationatdifferinge nterprises.MotivationOu
bleforWindows95/NT,Li nux,HP/UX,and(sortof)Ma
tems.Whileourprimaryg oalwastoconstructuseful
elopanintegrationmeth odologythatacknowledges
exiblereconfiguration oflargesystemsduringins
addressedbyacommunity ofsoftware-developingre
CommonObjectRequestBr okerArchitecture(CORBA)
oftheinstitutionasawh ole,andwiththeneedsofin
es,platforms,andtechn ologiesforstorage,trans
velopedatoneinstituti onislikelytorequirecons
yintegrated'applicati onsparadigm.Indevelopin
rchpurposes.Applicati onsusedforeachoftheseca
velopment,includingac ooperativemultithreadin
alguidelines;portable orderentry;computationa
s.ReferenceMaterialsF ormoreinformationonArac
socketslayerforMacint oshwithsupportformultit
:Atoolsetforthedevelo pmentofclinicalworkstat
tationsforfacilitysup portservices,possiblylo
esources,systemsinteg ration,andcomponent-bas
butedfreelytotheresea rchcommunity.Youcanalso
dataacquisitionhardwa redistributedthroughout
csoftwareinfrastructu reinordertoenablemorefl
cialactivities;andthe retrievalofdataforresea
port,anddisplayofinfo rmation.Additionally,we
systems,wefoundthispu rsuittorequireasignific
dividualgroupsorworke rswithintheinstitution,
ovidingmedicalcare.Fo rthisreason,anysystemde
ingservicesrequiredfo rworkwouldbesimilarlydi
accessamorecompletede scriptionofArachne'ssof
,uponwhichArachneisba sed.ArtifactsThefollowi
stributed.Points-of-u sewouldincludeclinicalw
standards.Relatedgoal sincludetheabilitytoena
rthecost-effectivenes sofcertainclinicalguide
nthemedicalinformatic sresearchcommunity,andt
es.OD-Textualobjectin stancefileformatutiliti
nthismarket,andmanysy stemsarestillbasedontex
posesseriouschallenge stotoday'ssoftwaredesig
useatanother.Asaresul t,thereareseriousproble
titutionitself.Thesys temcannotbedesignedasaw
endedtobecompatiblewi th,andtoaugment,current
inganimplementationof theExternalizationservi
working.COS-Asubsetof theOMGstandardCommonObj
arethroughstandardiza tionandinsulationofsoft
,evolutionaryconstruc tionofhighlycomplexsoft
es.DB-Databaseintegra tionutilitiesandlow-lev
holeandputintoplace.I tmustchangewiththeneeds
ngsoftwaretoolsarepar tofArachneasitstandstod
nosticimagesandlabora toryresults;useofclinic
hepreferenceofindivid ualusers.Perhapsthelarg

ionapplicationsfromdistributedcomponents(pub
lication).Componentbasedcomputinginradiology
systemsarchitecture(publication).Thecurrent(
draft)versionoftheArachneUser'sGuide,inposts
criptformat.Slidesforapresentationoncomponen
t-basedcomputing.........................PbN