Today's distributed and pervasive computing addresses large-scale
cyber-physical ecosystems, characterised by dense and large networks of devices
capable of computation, communication and interaction with the environment and
people. While most research focusses on treating these systems as "composites"
(i.e., heterogeneous functional complexes), recent developments in fields such
as self-organising systems and swarm robotics have opened up a complementary
perspective: treating systems as "collectives" (i.e., uniform, collaborative,
and self-organising groups of entities). This article explores the motivations,
state of the art, and implications of this "collective computing paradigm" in
software engineering, discusses its peculiar challenges, and outlines a path
for future research, touching on aspects such as macroprogramming, collective
intelligence, self-adaptive middleware, learning, synthesis, and
experimentation of collective behaviour.

今天的分布式和普适计算涉及到大规模的网络生态系统，这些系统由密集和大型设备网络组成，这些设备可以进行计算、通信和与环境及人进行交互。本文探讨了在软件工程中这种 “集体计算范式” 的动机、现状和影响，讨论了其特殊的挑战，并概述了未来研究的路径，涉及到宏观编程、集体智能、自适应中间件、学习、合成和集体行为的实验。