Shared Kernel

The Shared Kernel pattern describes a relationship between two bounded contexts and is used on a context map in CML.

Syntax

Note that currently two different syntax variants exist. The following code snippets illustrate both variants:

CargoBookingContext [SK]<->[SK] VoyagePlanningContext {
  implementationTechnology = "Java Library"
}

Note that with this syntax (with the arrows <->) it does not matter which bounded context is on which side, since this is a symmetric relationship. If you switch the bounded contexts, it has the same meaning semantically.

CargoBookingContext Shared-Kernel VoyagePlanningContext {
  implementationTechnology = "Java Library"
}

Default Symmetric Relationship

Note that the Shared Kernel is the default symmetric relationship. Omitting the concrete relationship type within the brackets as follows, declares a Shared Kernel relationship too. However, with this syntax a reader has to know this behavior and cannot explicitly see that it is not a Partnership relationship:

CargoBookingContext <-> VoyagePlanningContext

Implementation Technology

With the implementationTechnology keyword you can specify how the relationship is implemented.

Relationship Name

With a colon it is possible (optionally) to add a relationship name to the specification, as illustrated within this example:

CargoBookingContext Shared-Kernel VoyagePlanningContext : BookingVoyageRelationship {
  implementationTechnology = "Java Library"
}

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