The theory of classification part 11: adding class types to object implementations

A model of strongly-typed object generators, in which the class-type information was attached to the object-information was developed. A class was defined as a family of objects that shared a similar implementation strategy, and a family of types shared a similar method interface. It provided a good foundation for developing further model interpretations of other object-oriented concepts such as class hierarchies, abstract classes, and interfaces. A new typed calculus was also used to present a model of strongly-typed inheritance, and a formal obligation to demonstrate that aspects of inheritance were type-sound were also fulfilled

The theory of classification part 13: template classes and genericity

The object-oriented type theory for non-specialists is discussed. It is shown that how parametric polymorphism, known as templates in C++ and genericity in Ada and Eiffel, can be added to the Theory of Classification. The generic types could be created by abstracting over parts of simple types. A generic type is modeled as a type function expecting an actual type argument

From types to type requirements: Genericity for model-driven engineering

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10270-011-0221-0Model-driven engineering (MDE) is a software engineering paradigm that proposes an active use of models during the development process. This paradigm is inherently type-centric, in the sense that models and their manipulation are defined over the types of specific meta-models. This fact hinders the reuse of existing MDE artefacts with other meta-models in new contexts, even if all these meta-models share common characteristics. To increase the reuse opportunities of MDE artefacts, we propose a paradigm shift from type-centric to requirement-centric specifications by bringing genericity into models, meta-models and model management operations. For this purpose, we introduce so-called concepts gathering structural and behavioural requirements for models and meta-models. In this way, model management operations are defined over concepts, enabling the application of the operations to any meta-model satisfying the requirements imposed by the concept. Model templates rely on concepts to define suitable interfaces, hence enabling the definition of reusable model components. Finally, similar to mixin layers, templates can be defined at the meta-model level as well, to define languages in a modular way, as well as layers of functionality to be plugged-in into other meta-models. These ideas have been implemented in MetaDepth, a multi-level meta-modelling tool that integrates action languages from the Epsilon family for model management and code generation.This work has been sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with projects METEORIC (TIN2008-02081) and Go Lite (TIN2011-24139), and by the R&D program of the Community of Madrid with project “e-Madrid” (S2009/TIC-1650)

Timed Automata Semantics for Analyzing Creol

We give a real-time semantics for the concurrent, object-oriented modeling language Creol, by mapping Creol processes to a network of timed automata. We can use our semantics to verify real time properties of Creol objects, in particular to see whether processes can be scheduled correctly and meet their end-to-end deadlines. Real-time Creol can be useful for analyzing, for instance, abstract models of multi-core embedded systems. We show how analysis can be done in Uppaal.Comment: In Proceedings FOCLASA 2010, arXiv:1007.499