The TOOLBUS is a software coordination architecture for the integration of components written in different languages running on different computers. It has been used since 1994 in a variety of projects, most notably in the complete renovation of the ASF+SDF Meta-Environment. In this paper we summarize the experience that has been gained in these projects and sketch preliminary ideas how the TOOLBUS can be further improved. Topics to be discussed include the structuring of message exchanges, crash recovery in distributed applications, and call-by-value versus call-by-reference.

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