Moreira, Rui S.Rocha, ÁlvaroVasconcelos, José Braga de2008-07-182011-10-062008-07-182011-10-062005Revista da Faculdade de Ciência e Tecnologia. Porto. ISSN 1646-0499. 2 (2005) 134-152.1646-0499http://hdl.handle.net/10284/576Middleware is a widely used term in various areas of distributed systems. This paper focuses specifically on component-based middleware, i.e., the software layer that offers, to application developers, a platform, a programming model and a standard set of services (e.g.,persistency, transactions, security, refl ection, etc.) capable of hiding the interaction details between components of a distributed system. This middle tier makes language and distribution heterogeneity transparent to developers and decreases the diffi culty of managing the creation, distribution, deployment and adaptation of software components.articleengjournal article