Design patterns for component-oriented software development

In this paper we present four partially not yet documented design patterns for component-oriented programming. To this end, we first define component-orientation and show its essential properties. This definition leads us to a creational, two structural and a behavioral pattern. We first present the DYNAMIC FACTORY; a creational pattern which allows for the creation of late-bound components. Secondly, we describe the AGGREGATION and the EMBEDDING pattern. These two structural patterns are archetypal for component-oriented programming. Finally, the PROPAGATOR as an important pattern for message propagation is illustrated. Flexible message propagation, expressed in delegation and forwarding, is a key aspect of component-oriented programming