A comparative study of software adaptation using remote method call and Web Services

The software development process has been directed, over the years, to various methodologies with specific purposes to attend emerging needs. Besides, it can also be noticed, during this period, that some processes require mechanisms related to software reuse and greater speed in the development stage. An important factor in this context is the mutation (adaptation), which occurs in all the software's life cycle, due to its customers' needs or due to technological changes. Regarding the latter factor, it has been observed a significant increase in developments that use distributed applications through the World Wide Web or remote application. Based on the adaptation idea and on the necessity of software distribution systems, this paper presents a technique to reconfigure software capable of acting in several developmental contexts (local, distributed and/or Web). In order to demonstrate its applicability, a case study, through the use of service orientation and remote calls, was done to show the software adaptation in the development of applications. Besides, comparative results among the approaches used in the development of reconfigurable applications are also presented.