89 research outputs found
Developing an ontological sandbox : investigating multi-level modelling’s possible Metaphysical Structures
One of the central concerns of the multi-level modelling (MLM) community is the hierarchy of classifications that appear in conceptual models; what these are, how they are linked and how they should be organised into levels and modelled. Though there has been significant work done in this area, we believe that it could be enhanced by introducing a systematic way to investigate the ontological nature and requirements that underlie the frameworks and tools proposed by the community to support MLM (such as Orthogonal Classification Architecture and Melanee). In this paper, we introduce a key component for the investigation and understanding of the ontological requirements, an ontological sandbox. This is a conceptual framework for investigating and comparing multiple variations of possible ontologies – without having to commit to any of them – isolated from a full commitment to any foundational ontology. We discuss the sandbox framework as well as walking through an example of how it can be used to investigate a simple ontology. The example, despite its simplicity, illustrates how the constructional approach can help to expose and explain the metaphysical structures used in ontologies, and so reveal the underlying nature of MLM levelling
A Comparison of Two-Level and Multi-level Modelling for Cloud-Based Applications
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21151-0_2The Cloud Modelling Framework (CloudMF) is an approach to apply model-driven engineering principles to the specification and execution of cloud-based applications. It comprises a domain-specific language to model the deployment topology of multi-cloud applications, along with a models@run-time environment to facilitate reasoning and adaptation of these applications at run-time. This paper reports on some challenges encountered during the design of CloudMF, related to the adoption of the two-level modelling approach and especially the type-instance pattern. Moreover, it proposes the adoption of an alternative, multi-level modelling approach to tackle these challenges, and provides a set of criteria to compare both approaches.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement numbers 317715 (PaaSage), 318392 (Broker@Cloud), and 611125 (MONDO), the Spanish Ministry under project Go Lite (TIN2011-24139), and the Madrid Region under project SICOMORO (S2013/ICE-3006)
Distributed event graphs: Formalizing component-based modelling and simulation
Proceedings of the Workshop on Visual Languages and Formal Methods (VLFM 2004), Visual Languages and Formal Methods 2004In this work an extension to the classical Event Graphs formalism for discrete-event simulation is presented. The extensions are oriented towards the specification of component-based models. The abstract syntax has been defined through meta-modelling. Several methodological issues are discussed, concerning the use of two different meta-modelling levels or collapsing the language into a single one, where “instance-of” relationships are used between processes and their classes. The operational semantics have been defined through graph transformation. This formal definition enables analysis before code is generated from the model. The syntax and semantics of the visual language have been implemented in the multi-paradigm tool AToM3, together with a code generator that produces stand-alone applications able to run the analysed models in real-time.I’d like to thank the three anonymous referees for their comments, and the
sponsors of this work: the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (TIC2002-
01948) and the Santander Central Hispano Bank
Pattern-Based Development of Domain-Specific Modelling Languages
Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. A. Pescador, A. Garmendia, E. Guerra, J. Sánchez Cuadrado and J. de Lara, "Pattern-based development of Domain-Specific Modelling Languages," Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS), 2015 ACM/IEEE 18th International Conference on, Ottawa, ON, 2015, pp. 166-175. doi: 10.1109/MODELS.2015.7338247Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) promotes the use
of models to conduct all phases of software development in an
automated way. Models are frequently defined using Domain-
Specific Modelling Languages (DSMLs), which many times need
to be developed for the domain at hand. However, while constructing
DSMLs is a recurring activity in MDE, there is scarce
support for gathering, reusing and enacting knowledge for their
design and implementation. This forces the development of every
new DSML to start from scratch.
To alleviate this problem, we propose the construction of
DSMLs and their modelling environments aided by patterns
which gather knowledge of specific domains, design alternatives,
concrete syntax, dynamic semantics and functionality for the
modelling environment. They may have associated services,
realized via components. Our approach is supported by a tool
that enables the construction of DSMLs through the application
of patterns, and synthesizes a graphical modelling environment
according to them.Work supported by the Spanish MINECO (TIN2011-24139 and TIN2014-52129-R), the R&D programme of the Madrid Region (S2013/ICE-3006), and the EU commission (FP7-ICT-2013-10, #611125)
Modular Moose: A new generation software reverse engineering environment
Advanced reverse engineering tools are required to cope with the complexity
of software systems and the specific requirements of numerous different tasks
(re-architecturing, migration, evolution). Consequently, reverse engineering
tools should adapt to a wide range of situations. Yet, because they require a
large infrastructure investment, being able to reuse these tools is key. Moose
is a reverse engineering environment answering these requirements. While Moose
started as a research project 20 years ago, it is also used in industrial
projects, exposing itself to all these difficulties. In this paper we present
ModMoose, the new version of Moose. ModMoose revolves around a new meta-model,
modular and extensible; a new toolset of generic tools (query module,
visualization engine, ...); and an open architecture supporting the
synchronization and interaction of tools per task. With ModMoose, tool
developers can develop specific meta-models by reusing existing elementary
concepts, and dedicated reverse engineering tools that can interact with the
existing ones
A Taxonomy of Metamodel Hierarchies
In the context of software engineering and model-driven development in particular, metamodeling gains more and more importance. So far, no classifying study of theoretical metamodeling concepts and hierarchy design options has been conducted in order to establish a comprehensive set of interrelated design variables, i.e. a coherent design space. A well-designed metamodeling hierarchy is essential to avoid problems not easily noticeable, like ambiguous classification and the replication of concepts. This study aims at exploring the theoretical foundation and providing a taxonomy or a design space for constructing tailor-made metamodel hierarchies for specific problems areas and domains
Modeling and Generating Tailored Distribution Middleware for Embedded Real-Time Systems
International audienceDistributed real-time embedded (DRE) systems are becoming increasingly complex. They have to meet more and more stringent requirements, either functional or non-functional. Because of this, DRE systems development makes use of formal methods for verification; and, in some cases, generation of proven code. The distribution aspects are typically handled by a middleware, which must meet the system constraints. In this article, we describe our approach to model and generate middleware-based distributed systems for DRE applications. Our methodology is a three-step approach. First, we model the high-level inter-component interactions using connectors. We then use the Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL) as a pre-implementation description language to capture all the non-functional aspects of the system. Finally, we generate actual application code and the appropriate middleware from the AADL description. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we created an application generator, Gaia. It is part of the Ocarina AADL tool suite and generates application source code for use with the PolyORB middleware
Metamodelisation to support Test and Evolution
Legacy software systems correspond to the wealth of the companies. They often exist for dozens of years and concentrate a big part of the company knowledge, its business rules or its savoir-faire. Requirements to which these systems answer have evolved with time, as well as the used technologies leading to modications. These mo-dications occurring after the software delivery, they are considered maintenance. They correspond to more than 80% of the software li-fecycle and its cost. Maintaining a software system is a complex and useful activity that deserves to o be anticipated from the design activity. Remodularisation phases may be useful to reduce complexity massed from successive evolutions and to provide new strong basis for future evolutions. Work presented in this manuscript answers to a unique target : Designing systems of good quality, easily maintainable and managing their evolutions. Quality can be ensured and measured from dierent ways. In this document, I only focus on tests. Tests enable developers to identify and locate errors or check after an evolution that unchanged parts are not impacted. Finally, software artefacts do not independently evolve. The evolution of one of them may have consequences on one or several others. In this document, two types of software are considered chains of model transformations or traditional programs. Thus, transformation chains are not seen as a way to generate code from models via transformations. They are considered software system by them selves that would need to be later maintained and to make evolve. Results presented in this document may be summarised as such : Proposal of a new transformation type localized transformations introducing better reusability, modularity and exibility in transformation chains. Adaptations in designing and building chains are thus needed
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