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Understanding constraint expressions in large conceptual schemas by automatic filtering
Human understanding of constraint expressions (also called schema rules) in large conceptual schemas is very di cult. This is due to the fact that the elements (entity types, attributes, relationship types) involved in an expression are de ned in di fferent places in the schema, which may be very distant from each other and embedded in an intricate web of irrelevant elements. The problem is insignifi cant when the
conceptual schema is small, but very signi cant when it is large. In this paper we describe a novel method that, given a set of constraint expressions and a large conceptual schema, automatically filters the conceptual schema, obtaining a smaller one that contains the elements of interest for
the understanding of the expressions. We also show the application of the method to the important case of understanding the specication of event types, whose constraint expressions consists of a set of pre and postconditions. We have evaluated the method by means of its application to a set of large conceptual schemas. The results show that the method is eff ective and e cient. We deal with conceptual schemas in UML/OCL,
but the method can be adapted to other languages.Peer ReviewedPreprin
A filtering engine for large conceptual schemas
Postprint (published version
Computing the Importance of Schema Elements Taking Into Account the Whole SCHEMA
Conceptual Schemas are one of the most important
artifacts in the development cycle of information systems.
To understand the conceptual schema is essential
to get involved in the information system that is described
within it. As the information system increases
its size and complexity, the relative conceptual schema
will grow in the same proportion making di cult to understand
the main concepts of that schema/information
system.
The thesis comprises the investigation of the in
uence of
the whole schema in computing the relevance of schema
elements. It will include research and implementation
of algorithms for scoring elements in the literature, an
study of the di erent results obtained once applied to a
few example conceptual schemas, an extension of those
algorithms including new components in the computation
process like derivation rules, constraints and the
behavioural subschema speci cation, and an in-depth
comparison among the initial algorithms and the extended
ones studying the results in order to choose those
algorithms that give the most valuable output
Computing the Importance of Schema Elements Taking Into Account the Whole SCHEMA
Conceptual Schemas are one of the most important
artifacts in the development cycle of information systems.
To understand the conceptual schema is essential
to get involved in the information system that is described
within it. As the information system increases
its size and complexity, the relative conceptual schema
will grow in the same proportion making di cult to understand
the main concepts of that schema/information
system.
The thesis comprises the investigation of the in
uence of
the whole schema in computing the relevance of schema
elements. It will include research and implementation
of algorithms for scoring elements in the literature, an
study of the di erent results obtained once applied to a
few example conceptual schemas, an extension of those
algorithms including new components in the computation
process like derivation rules, constraints and the
behavioural subschema speci cation, and an in-depth
comparison among the initial algorithms and the extended
ones studying the results in order to choose those
algorithms that give the most valuable output
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