Ontology-based methodology for error detection in software design

Improving the quality of a software design with the goal of producing a high quality software product continues to grow in importance due to the costs that result from poorly designed software. It is commonly accepted that multiple design views are required in order to clearly specify the required functionality of software. There is universal agreement as to the importance of identifying inconsistencies early in the software design process, but the challenge is how to reconcile the representations of the diverse views to ensure consistency. To address the problem of inconsistencies that occur across multiple design views, this research introduces the Methodology for Objects to Agents (MOA). MOA utilizes a new ontology, the Ontology for Software Specification and Design (OSSD), as a common information model to integrate specification knowledge and design knowledge in order to facilitate the interoperability of formal requirements modeling tools and design tools, with the end goal of detecting inconsistency errors in a design. The methodology, which transforms designs represented using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) into representations written in formal agent-oriented modeling languages, integrates object-oriented concepts and agent-oriented concepts in order to take advantage of the benefits that both approaches can provide. The OSSD model is a hierarchical decomposition of software development concepts, including ontological constructs of objects, attributes, behavior, relations, states, transitions, goals, constraints, and plans. The methodology includes a consistency checking process that defines a consistency framework and an Inter-View Inconsistency Detection technique. MOA enhances software design quality by integrating multiple software design views, integrating object-oriented and agent-oriented concepts, and defining an error detection method that associates rules with ontological properties

Object-oriented querying of existing relational databases

In this paper, we present algorithms which allow an object-oriented querying of existing relational databases. Our goal is to provide an improved query interface for relational systems with better query facilities than SQL. This seems to be very important since, in real world applications, relational systems are most commonly used and their dominance will remain in the near future. To overcome the drawbacks of relational systems, especially the poor query facilities of SQL, we propose a schema transformation and a query translation algorithm. The schema transformation algorithm uses additional semantic information to enhance the relational schema and transform it into a corresponding object-oriented schema. If the additional semantic information can be deducted from an underlying entity-relationship design schema, the schema transformation may be done fully automatically. To query the created object-oriented schema, we use the Structured Object Query Language (SOQL) which provides declarative query facilities on objects. SOQL queries using the created object-oriented schema are much shorter, easier to write and understand and more intuitive than corresponding S Q L queries leading to an enhanced usability and an improved querying of the database. The query translation algorithm automatically translates SOQL queries into equivalent SQL queries for the original relational schema

Towards a Base UML Profile for Architecture Description

This paper discusses a base UML profile for architecture description as supported by existing Architecture Description Languages (ADLs). The profile may be extended so as to enable architecture modeling both as expressed in conventional ADLs and according to existing runtime infrastructures (e.g., system based on middleware architectures).

Abstract Platform and Transformations for Model-Driven Service-Oriented Development

In this paper, we discuss the use of abstract platforms and transformation for designing applications according to the principles of the service-oriented architecture. We illustrate our approach by discussing the use of the service discovery pattern at a platform-independent design level. We show how a trader service can be specified at a high-level of abstraction and incorporated in an abstract platform for service-oriented development. Designers can then build platform-independent models of applications by composing application parts with this abstract platform. Application parts can use the trader service to publish and discover service offers. We discuss how the abstract platform can be realized into two target platforms, namely Web Services (with UDDI) and CORBA (with the OMG trader)