Improving the Specification of Business Application Requirements Based on Executable Models

Istraživanje predstavljeno u okviru ove disertacije imalo je za cilj unapređenje procesa specifikacije korisničkih zahteva poslovnih aplikacija na bazi detaljnih, izvršivih prototipova koji se mogu kreirati uz minimalan utrošak vremena i energije. Radi postizanja ovog cilja je implementiran alat otvorenog koda pod nazivom Kroki (fr. croquis – skica) čija je arhitektura projektovana tako da obezbedi: (1) kolaborativni razvoj specifikacije poslovne aplikacije sa korisnicima koji nemaju znanje projektovanja i programiranja softverskih sistema, (2) efikasno pokretanje prototipa direktno iz sopstvenog razvojnog okruženja, dajući mogućnost korisniku da isproba prototip tokom modelovanja kad god poželi, (3) ponovno korišćenje informacija dobijenih prilikom razvoja prototipova u kasnijim fazama razvoja, kako bi se smanjilo nepotrebno trošenje resursa. Eksperiment za proveru da li razvijeni alat zadovoljava postavljene ciljeve je dizajniran kao serija od deset eksplorativnih studija slučaja čiji je cilj specifikacija poslovnih aplikacija sa učesnicima koji dolaze iz različitih poslovnih domena koji nisu poznati projektantima. Pojedinačne studije su obavljene sa po jednim učesnikom u okviru dvočasovnih projektantskih sesija, gde su ulogu projektanata imali autor ove disertacije i njegov mentor. Kvalitativni i kvantitativni podaci prikupljeni tokom sesija i posle njih, putem upitnika, su iskorišćeni za izvođenje pozitivnih zaključaka o efikasnosti predloženog pristupa i alata. Dizajn istraživanja je baziran na konceptima MEM-a (Method Evaluation Model) koji definiše kriterijum za uspeh određene metodologije u praksi. Upitnici koji evaluiraju jezik za modelovanje i Kroki alat su formulisani tako da odgovaraju izabranim konceptima FQUAD (Framework for qualitative assessment of domain-specific languages) okvira za evaluaciju jezika specifičnih za domen.The research presented in this dissertation aimed to improve the process of specification of user requirements of business applications based on detailed, executable prototypes that can be created with minimal expenditure of time and energy. To achieve this goal, an open-source tool called Kroki (fr. croquis - sketch) was implemented, the architecture of which is designed to provide: (1) Collaborative development of business application specifications with users who do not have knowledge of designing and programming software systems, (2) Efficient prototyping directly from Kroki’s development environment, enabling the user to try out the prototype during modeling whenever they want, and (3) Reuse of information obtained during the development of prototypes in later stages of development, to reduce unnecessary consumption of time and energy. The experiment to validate whether the developed Kroki tool meets the set goals was designed as a series of ten exploratory case studies to specify business applications with participants from different business domains unknown to the designers. Individual studies were carried out within two-hour design sessions, where the author of this dissertation and his mentor played the designer role, with a single participant in the user role in each session. Qualitative and quantitative data collected during and after the sessions, through questionnaires, were used to draw positive conclusions about the effectiveness of the proposed approach and tools. The research design is based on the concepts of MEM (Method Evaluation Model), which defines the criteria for the success of a certain methodology in practice. Questionnaires that evaluate the modeling language and the Kroki tool are formulated to correspond to the selected concepts of the FQUAD (Framework for qualitative assessment of domain-specific languages) for evaluating DSLs

Assessing composition in modeling approaches

Modeling approaches are based on various paradigms, e.g., aspect-oriented, feature-oriented, object-oriented, and logic-based. Modeling approaches may cover requirements models to low-level design models, are developed for various purposes, use various means of composition, and thus are difficult to compare. However, such comparisons are critical to help practitioners know under which conditions approaches are most applicable, and how they might be successfully generalized and combined to achieve end-to-end methods. This paper reports on work done at the 2nd International Comparing Modeling Approaches (CMA) workshop towards the goal of identifying potential comprehensive modeling methodologies with a particular emphasis on composition: (i) an improved set of comparison criteria; (ii) 19 assessments of modeling approaches based on the comparison criteria and a common, focused case study

BSML-mbeddr: Integrating Semantically Congurable State-Machine Models in a C Programming Environment

In model-driven engineering, developers express their solutions in domain-specific modelling languages (DSLs) that support domain-specific abstractions. Big-Step Modelling Languages (BSML) is a family of extended state-machine DSLs for creating executable models that have a complex execution semantics. In this paper, we present BSML-mbeddr, which imbeds a large subset of BSML within the mbeddr C programming environment, thereby extending mbeddr with language constructs for extended, semantically configurable state-machines. We also report on three case studies that exercise the expressiveness of BSML-mbeddr, assess the integrability of BSML-mbeddr into mbeddr, and demonstrate the need to provide support for state-machine models with different execution semantics.NSERC Discovery Grant, 155243-12 || Ontario Research Fund, RE05-04

DataMock: An Agile Approach for Building Data Models from User Interface Mockups

In modern software development, much time is devoted and much attention is paid to the activity of data modeling and the translation of data models into databases. This has motivated the proposal of different approaches and tools to support this activity, such as semiautomatic approaches that generate data models from requirements artifacts using text analysis and sets of heuristics, among other techniques. However, these approaches still suffer from important limitations, including the lack of support for requirements traceability, the poor support for detecting and solving conflicts in domain-specific requirements, and the considerable effort required for manually checking the generated models. This paper introduces DataMock, an Agile approach that enables the iterative building of data models from requirements specifications, while supporting traceability and allowing inconsistencies detection in data requirements and specifications. The paper also describes how the approach effectively allows improving traceability and reducing errors and effort to build data models in comparison with traditional, state-of-the-art, data modeling approaches.Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

Survey of Template-Based Code Generation

L'automatisation de la génération des artefacts textuels à partir des modèles est une étape critique dans l'Ingénierie Dirigée par les Modèles (IDM). C'est une transformation de modèles utile pour générer le code source, sérialiser les modèles dans de stockages persistents, générer les rapports ou encore la documentation. Parmi les différents paradigmes de transformation de modèle-au-texte, la génération de code basée sur les templates (TBCG) est la plus utilisée en IDM. La TBCG est une technique de génération qui produit du code à partir des spécifications de haut niveau appelées templates. Compte tenu de la diversité des outils et des approches, il est nécessaire de classifier et de comparer les techniques de TBCG existantes afin d'apporter un soutien approprié aux développeurs. L'objectif de ce mémoire est de mieux comprendre les caractéristiques des techniques de TBCG, identifier les tendances dans la recherche, et éxaminer l'importance du rôle de l'IDM par rapport à cette approche. J'évalue également l'expressivité, la performance et la mise à l'échelle des outils associés selon une série de modèles. Je propose une étude systématique de cartographie de la littérature qui décrit une intéressante vue d'ensemble de la TBCG et une étude comparitive des outils de la TBCG pour mieux guider les dévloppeurs dans leur choix. Cette étude montre que les outils basés sur les modèles offrent plus d'expressivité tandis que les outils basés sur le code sont les plus performants. Enfin, Xtend2 offre le meilleur compromis entre l'expressivité et la performance.A critical step in model-driven engineering (MDE) is the automatic synthesis of a textual artifact from models. This is a very useful model transformation to generate application code, to serialize the model in persistent storage, generate documentation or reports. Among the various model-to-text transformation paradigms, Template-Based Code Generation (TBCG) is the most popular in MDE. TBCG is a synthesis technique that produces code from high-level specifications, called templates. It is a popular technique in MDE given that they both emphasize abstraction and automation. Given the diversity of tools and approaches, it is necessary to classify and compare existing TBCG techniques to provide appropriate support to developers. The goal of this thesis is to better understand the characteristics of TBCG techniques, identify research trends, and assess the importance of the role of MDE in this code synthesis approach. We also evaluate the expressiveness, performance and scalability of the associated tools based on a range of models that implement critical patterns. To this end, we conduct a systematic mapping study of the literature that paints an interesting overview of TBCG and a comparative study on TBCG tools to better guide developers in their choices. This study shows that model-based tools offer more expressiveness whereas code-based tools performed much faster. Xtend2 offers the best compromise between the expressiveness and the performance

DataMock: An Agile Approach for Building Data Models from User Interface Mockups

In modern software development, much time is devoted and much attention is paid to the activity of data modeling and the translation of data models into databases. This has motivated the proposal of different approaches and tools to support this activity, such as semiautomatic approaches that generate data models from requirements artifacts using text analysis and sets of heuristics, among other techniques. However, these approaches still suffer from important limitations, including the lack of support for requirements traceability, the poor support for detecting and solving conflicts in domain-specific requirements, and the considerable effort required for manually checking the generated models. This paper introduces DataMock, an Agile approach that enables the iterative building of data models from requirements specifications, while supporting traceability and allowing inconsistencies detection in data requirements and specifications. The paper also describes how the approach effectively allows improving traceability and reducing errors and effort to build data models in comparison with traditional, state-of-the-art, data modeling approaches

Integrating Semantically Configurable State-machine Models in a C Programming Environment

Model-driven engineering is a popular software-development methodology, which requires suitable domain-specific modelling languages (DSLs) to create models. A DSL requires flexible semantics depending on the domain knowledge. Among DSLs, Big-Step Modelling Languages (BSML) is a family of state-machine modelling languages that vary semantically. In BSML, a model can respond to an environmental input with a big-step which comprises a sequence of small-steps, each of which represents the execution of a set of transitions. The semantics of BSMLs are decomposed into mostly orthogonal semantic aspects with a wide range of semantic options. With configurable semantics, the modeller is able to choose the proper option for each semantic aspect, thus to fulfil their per domain/model semantic requirements. In this thesis we present BSML-mbeddr, a state-machine modelling language with hierarchical states, concurrent regions and configurable semantics, which has implemented a large subset of BSML within the mbeddr C programming language environment. mbeddr is a DSL workbench which provides a tool suite that supports the incremental construction of modular DSLs on top of C, together with a set of predefined DSLs. By implementing on mbeddr, BSML-mbeddr is integrated into mbeddr-C that supports programs made with heterogeneous languages, including a combination of programming language and modelling language

Heavy meta: model-driven domain-specific generation of generative domain-specific modeling tools

Software is so prevalent in all areas of life that one could expect we have come up with more simple and intuitive ways for its creation by now. However, software development is still too complicated to easily and efficiently cope with individual demands, customizations, and changes. Model-based approaches promise improvements through a more comprehensible layer of abstraction, but they are rarely fully embraced in practice. They are perceived as being overly complex, imposing additional work, and lacking the flexibility required in the real world. This thesis presents a novel approach to model-driven software engineering that focuses on simplicity through highly specialized tools. Domain experts are provided with development tools tailored to their individual needs, where they can easily specify the intent of the software using their known terms and concepts. This domain specificity (D) is a powerful mechanism to boil down the effort of defining a system to relevant aspects only. Many concepts are set upfront, which imposes a huge potential for automated generation. However, the full potential of domain-specific models can only unfold, if they are used as primary artifacts of development. The presented approach thus combines domain specificity with full generation (F) to achieve an overall pushbutton generation that does not require any round-trip engineering. Furthermore, service orientation (S) introduces a ‘just use’ philosophy of including arbitrarily complex functionality without needing to know their implementation, which also restores flexibility potentially sacrificed by the domain focus. The unique combination of these three DFS properties facilitates a focused, efficient, and flexible simplicity-driven way of software development. Key to the approach is a holistic solution that in particular also covers the simplicity-driven development of the required highly specialized DFS tools, as nothing would be gained if the costs of developing such tools outweighed the resulting benefits. This simplicity is achieved by applying the very same DFS concepts to the domain of tool development itself: DFS modeling tools are fully generated from models and services specialized to the (meta) domain of modeling tools. The presented Cinco meta tooling suite is a first implementation of such a meta DFS tool. It focuses on the generation of graphical modeling tools for graph structures comprising of various types of nodes and edges. Cinco has been very successfully applied to numerous industrial and academic projects, and thus also serves as a proof of concept for the DFS approach itself. The unique combination of the three DFS strategies and Cinco's meta-level approach towards their realization in practice lay the foundation for a new paradigm of software development that is strongly focused on simplicity