Wierenga, Paul Andrew.2008-04-102008-04-1020052008-04-10http://hdl.handle.net/1828/621This thesis describes a framework for building a distributed concurrent system based on the active object paradigm. An active object is an agent, such as a state machine, that only executes in response to messages it receives, and can only communicate with other agents by sending messages. Steam consists of a programming model, an application programming interface and a concurrent runtime system to support the model. Steam offers an efficient implementation of active objects. The implementation also supports location transparency, dynamic re-configurability, and a form of atomicity. Steam is designed as a generic fi-amework suitable for application in a variety of domains. It can be used directly as a runtime system embedded within an application (eg. in a C program) or as a virtual machine for a concurrent programming language such as COOL.Computer software