Asselements

Asselements are defined as the atomic units within an assembly-based modeling approach used to describe software or data architectures. An asselement represents a minimal, indivisible unit of behavior or data that can be combined with others to form larger systems. Each asselement has a unique identifier, a type descriptor, a set of interfaces or ports, and may carry internal state.

In practice, asselements are designed to be composable and replaceable. They can be stateless or stateful, and their interfaces define how they connect to other asselements. A binding rule governs how interfaces are matched, and a configuration or assembly language expresses allowable assemblies. This makes asselements suitable for modular design and for reasoning about system evolution.

Composition uses an assembly graph or tree where nodes are asselements and edges are bindings between ports. The assembly process can be performed at design time or at run time in dynamic systems. Asselements support versioning and substitution to accommodate updates and varying deployment contexts, while preserving compatibility with existing assemblies.

Applications of asselements include modular software design, plug-in systems, data processing pipelines, and hardware design modeling. They provide a formal lens for analyzing modularity, reuse, and evolution in complex systems. In practice, different communities may use related concepts such as components, modules, or elements, with asselements emphasizing the assembly operations that connect smaller units into complete architectures.

Origin and terminology: the term asselement appears in some design methodologies as a contraction of assembly element, highlighting the role of assembly in composition. See also: component, module, interface, assembly language, plug-in pattern.