Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences

The Chiron-2 style is a new software architectural style designed to support the particular needs of applications with a graphical user interface aspect. Several experimental systems have been built to demonstrate its intended goals. The conceptual architectures of those systems were depicted by "boxes and arrows." This notation is too ambiguous and a more formal definition is needed.

This paper presents a formal specification of the C2 style. In particular, C2 components and connectors, their rules of composition, and communication between them are defined. This definition is evaluated with a set of independently devised requirements. Its utility and future uses are discussed.