Using Re ection as a Means of Achieving Cooperation

We view cooperating systems as being a set of systems that are distributed over a common communication network and that work towards solving a common task. This is achieved by coordinating and exchanging information and expertise. Such systems exclude conventional database systems since the knowledge these systems contain is buried within application code. In this paper, we overcome this problem by introducing a layer of special re ective, i.e. metalevel, objects which surround each local database system. These objects are used to capture domain and operational knowledge, and to describe, at least in part, remote systems and to monitor task-oriented activities. In this way, we can turn interconnected conventional database systems into a set of cooperating knowledge-based systems.