Component metadata management and publication for the grid

There is growing attention to component-oriented software design of grid applications. Within this framework, applications are built by assembling together independently developed software components. Two main approaches are commonly used to manage, develop and publish software components: one is based on an interface description language (IDL); the other is typical, for instance, of Java and is based on introspection and design conventions. In this paper, we compare them and we propose a third approach that merges the flexibility and fast learning curve of the latter, with the rigor of the former. Our proposal is meant to help the transition towards more modern tools, which is required to develop versatile grid applications.