Metamodel-based model conformance and multiview consistency checking

Model-driven development, using languages such as UML and BON, often makes use of multiple diagrams (e.g., class and sequence diagrams) when modeling systems. These diagrams, presenting different views of a system of interest, may be inconsistent. A metamodel provides a unifying framework in which to ensure and check consistency, while at the same time providing the means to distinguish between valid and invalid models, that is, conformance. Two formal specifications of the metamodel for an object-oriented modeling language are presented, and it is shown how to use these specifications for model conformance and multiview consistency checking. Comparisons are made in terms of completeness and the level of automation each provide for checking multiview consistency and model conformance. The lessons learned from applying formal techniques to the problems of metamodeling, model conformance, and multiview consistency checking are summarized

Advanced modelling made simple with the Gmodel metalanguage.

Gmodel is a metalanguage that has been designed from the ground up to enable specification and instantiation of modelling languages. Although a number of metalanguages can be used for this purpose, most provide no or only limited support for modular specifications of sets of complementary modelling languages. Gmodel addresses modularity and extensibility as primary concerns, and is based on a small number of language elements that have their origin in model theory and denotational semantics. This article illustrates Gmodel's capabilities in the area of model-driven integration by showing that the Eclipse Modeling Framework Ecore language can easily be emulated. Gmodel offers support for unlimited multi-level instantiation in the simplest possible way, and any metalanguage emulated in Gmodel can optionally be equipped with Gmodel's multi-level instantiation functionality

Software modelling languages: A wish list

© 2015 IEEE. Contemporary software engineering modelling tends to rely on general-purpose languages, such as the Unified Modeling Language. However, such languages are practice-based and seldom underpinned with a solid theory-be it mathematical, ontological or concomitant with language use. The future of software modelling deserves research to evaluate whether a language base that is compatible with these various elements as well as being philosophically coherent offers practical advantages to software developers

Applied metamodelling : a foundation for language driven development

The Third Edition of Applied Metamodelling represents a small increment since the Second Edition was produced in 2008. The book continues to be referenced in schol- arly articles with 212 citations on Google Scholar including nearly 150 since 2008. The open-source release of the accompanying technologies XMF and XMF-Mosaic did not generate the same level of interest, partly due to a lack of exposure and associated tuto- rial materials. Recently, interest in the field of multi-level modelling has increased and has led to publications and a Dagstuhl Seminar based on the ideas of meta-languages and tool-modelling. An overview of the historical development of XMF, the ideas in this book, and the the birth and death of an associated startup company has been published in 2012 as part of the 10th anniversary edition of the the Journal of Software and Systems Modeling. A project based on the foundations developed in this book and the tooling, now rebranded XModeler, is underway and the aim is to advance the field of multi-level language-based system engineering

Applied metamodelling: a foundation for language driven development.

The motivation behind XMF was to develop a technology that would support a language driven approach to modelling and system development. Our starting point was that UML was not sufficiently flexible and in order to address this we designed an executable meta-language. This book describes the approach and provides an introduction to the key technologies: meta-models, language definition and mappings. The book concludes with a number of worked examples

A Framework to Formalise the MDE Foundations

International audienceDomain-Specific Language (DSL) are getting more and more popular and are being used in critical systems like aerospace and car industries. Methods for simulating and validating DSL models are now necessary in order to make the new software generation more reliable and less costly. Developing analysis tools for DSL requires the definition of models semantics. In this paper, we propose a framework to give a formal foundation of the Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) approach. We separate the usually common notions of models and modelling languages associating to each of them a different goal. In order to prove the consistency of our proposal we express a subset of EMOF, its static semantics and validate its meta-circularity

The Meaning of UML Models

The Unified Modelling Language (UML) is intended to express complex ideas in an intuitive and easily understood way. It is important because it is widely used in software engineering and other disciplines. Although an official definition document exists, there is much debate over the precise meaning of UML models. ¶ In response, the academic community have put forward many different proposals for formalising UML, but it is not at all obvious how to decide between them. Indeed, given that UML practitioners are inclined to reject formalisms as non-intuitive, it is not even obvious that the definition should be “formal” at all. Rather than searching for yet another formalisation of UML, our main aim is to determine what would constitute a good definition of UML. ¶ The first chapter sets the UML definition problem in a broad context, relating it to work in logic and the philosophy of science. ..