Open Collections

Abstract

Collaborative tools (multi-user applications) are very popular. It is desirable to have an application-independent system which provides the basic elements that are necessary for developing any kind of collaborative tools. This thesis presents a system named Collaborative Tools Development System (CTDS) for developing these tools. It not only facilitates the building of collaborative software from stand-alone (single-user) software, but it also eases the development of collaborative software from scratch. CTDS provides the communication and coordination services which are used by collaborative software. CTDS offers fault-tolerant collaboration. Failures of key components in CTDS do not have any impact on collaboration. CTDS also offers many other features for more effective and efficient collaboration.