Stateful component authoring and execution

A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for controlling a computing device to perform a method comprising:

• providing an extensible framework for authoring and executing stateful components for a distributed application, wherein the providing comprises:
• declaratively defining abstractions in an application schema for the distributed application including a plurality of distributed modules, wherein each module hosts a set of stateful components co-located in a physical tier of a distributed environment having logic to manipulate state;
• providing runtime support of partitioning the stateful components into partitions;
• and
• banishing control flow opaqueness of component logic in each of the stateful components.

A method of authoring and executing stateful components for a distributed application, the method comprising:

• providing an extensible framework for authoring and executing stateful components for a distributed application, wherein the providing comprises:
• declaratively defining abstractions in an application schema for the distributed application including a plurality of distributed modules, wherein each module hosts a set of stateful components co-located in a physical tier of a distributed environment having logic to manipulate state;
• providing runtime support of partitioning the stateful components into partitions according to definition constructs corresponding with the distributed modules wherein the definition constructs include metadata regarding instance count, partitioning policy, and replica count;
• and
• wherein the stateful components are exclusive of components that externalize state.