Meta-tools for software language engineering : a flexible collaborative modeling language for efficient telecommunications service design

International audienceThe increasingly competitive environment pressures telecommunications service providers to reduce their concept-to-market time. This time is influenced by a multitude of factors. For the benefit of telecom service designers, this paper focuses on increasing the degree of automation, offering team collaboration capabilities and bridging heterogeneous technologies. To address these factors, we propose a model-based meta-tool approach, which rapidly and iteratively generates particular tools for software languages. Each language is specific to one of the viewpoints involved in the definition of a service, as identified in the Intelligent Network Conceptual Model. A flexible language prototype for service designers, that blends a higher degree of formality with creative freedom, has already been implemented. The integration of first collaboration capabilities, defined and tooled, into this language, by including the rationale behind the designers' decisions, is currently being pursued. A second language prototype, for network designers, together with syntactic and semantic (partial) automatic interoperability between these two viewpoints, are also proposed

An approach for constructing a domain definition metamodel with ATL

International audiencePresent day Telecommunications competitive market requires a rapid definition process of new services. To ensure this, we propose to replace the current paper-based process with a computer-aided one. Central to this later process is an information model that captures domain specific knowledge. We approach its construction by defining model querying and model transformation rules in ATL over existing network abstraction layers. We also report on the way we used ATL to define these rules and the benefits of doing so, and pinpoint issues that may be addressed in future ATL releases

Towards Modelling and Analysing Non-Functional Properties of Systems of Systems

International audienceSystems of systems (SoS) are large-scale systems composed of complex systems with difficult to predict emergent properties. One of the most significant challenges in the engineering of such systems if how to predict their Non-Functional Properties (NFP) such as performance and security, and more specifically, how to model NFP when the overall system functionality is not available. In this paper, we identify, describe and analyse challenges to modelling and analysing the performance and security NFP of SoS. We define an architectural framework to SoS NFP prediction based on the modelling of system interactions and their impacts. We adopt an Event Driven Architecture to support this modelling, as it allows for more realistic and flexible NFP simulation, which enables more accurate NFP prediction. A framework integrating the analysis of several NFP allows for exploring the impacts of changes made to accommodate issues on one NFP on other NFPs

Hacia un rescate de utopías y sueños colectivos

Sin utopía la vida sería un ensayo para la muerte(Joan Manuel Serrat) El imaginario que se ha ido instalando en el mundo que vivimos, ha desechado lo que ha sido un elemento constitutivo hasta ahora en la historia de la humanidad: la capacidad de soñar con un mundo distinto y mejor al que hemos sido capaces hasta ahora de construir. Hemos pasado abruptamente desde una época casi delirantemente utópica, al descrédito y desplome casi absoluto de todas las utopías. El desplome de los intentos po..

Collaborative Construction of Telecommunications Services. An Enterprise Architecture and Model Driven Engineering Method

In the context of world economies transitioning to services, telecommunications services are the primary means of communication between different economic entities and are therefore essential. The focus on the end consumer, the convergence with the Internet, the separation between the software and the hardware implementing a service, and the telecommunications market deregulation have led to a revolution and a new era in the telecommunications industry. To meet these challenges, former national telecommunications providers have to reduce the construction time, from months to days, while affecting non-negatively other parameters (e.g., cost, quality of service, quality of experience) of new telecommunications services. To tackle this broad theme, we propose a telecommunications service construction process, the software tools that are to be used in this process and a tool building process to build them. The telecommunications service construction process reflects current practices in the telecommunications industry. As such, it should be (easily) accepted by practitioners. The software tools (i.e., Domain Specific Modeling Languages designed as profiles of an Enterprise Architecture Modeling Language, graphical editors, code generators, Off the Shelf network simulators, a collaboration Design Rationale Domain Specific Modeling Language) help telecommunications providers face the challenges. The tool building process relies on models and provides a high automation degree, hence software tools can be build more rapidly. We illustrate the telecommunications service construction process and the tools using a multimedia conferencing service. Our proposals contribute to reducing the construction time of new telecommunications services, while providing the possibility of improved quality of service and increased involvement of the consumer. Faster provisioning of new telecommunications services, that better answer the consumers¿ needs, will increase the rate of development of new economic services in general, and will ultimately have a positive impact on world economic development.Dans le contexte de la transition des économies mondiales vers les approches orientées services, les services télécoms sont aujourd¿hui essentiels car ils constituent le principal médium de communication entre les différentes entités économiques. Les accents de plus en plus mis sur le consommateur final, la convergence avec l'Internet, la séparation entre le logiciel et le matériel permettant de réaliser un service, et la déréglementation du marché des télécommunications ont ouvert une nouvelle ère dans l'industrie des télécommunications. Dans ce domaine, pour relever ces différents défis, les fournisseurs télécoms historiques, auparavant plutôt nationaux, doivent réduire le temps de construction de leurs nouveaux services, de plusieurs mois à quelques jours, tout en affectant le moins possible d'autres paramètres (par exemple le coût, la qualité de service ou encore la qualité de l'expérience). Pour s'attaquer à ce vaste thème, nous proposons dans cette thèse un processus de construction de services télécoms, incluant les outils logiciels à utiliser dans ce processus et définissons un processus de construction de tels outils. D¿une part, le processus de construction de services télécoms résultant reflète les pratiques actuelles en place dans l'industrie des télécommunications. En tant que tel, il devrait être (facilement) accepté par les praticiens. D¿autre part, les outils logiciels proposés (par exemple des langages de modélisation spécifiques au domaine conçus comme des profils d'un langage de modélisation d'architecture d'entreprise, des éditeurs graphiques, des générateurs de code, des simulateurs réseaux " sur étagère ", un langage de modélisation spécifique au domaine pour supporter la collaboration lors des choix de conception) aident les fournisseurs de services télécoms à faire face aux défis précédents. Par ailleurs, le processus de construction d'outils s'appuie sur des modèles et fournit ainsi un degré d'automatisation élevé, et sein duquel des outils logiciels peuvent être construits plus rapidement. Pour illustrer nos résultats, nous utilisons un service de téléconférence multimédia clarifiant le processus de construction de services télécoms et les outils associés. Au final, nos propositions et résultats contribuent à réduire le temps de construction des futurs services télécoms, tout en offrant la possibilité d'avoir une qualité de service améliorée et une implication accrue du consommateur final. Une fourniture plus rapide de nouveaux services télécoms, qui répondent mieux aux besoins des consommateurs, augmentera le taux de développement de nouveaux services économiques en général, favorisera la réactivité par rapport au marché, et permettra potentiellement d¿avoir un impact positif sur le développement économique mondial

Semi-Automatic Generation of OrBAC Security Rules for Cooperative Organizations Using Model-Driven Engineering

International audienceIn an environment of increasing cooperation and interoperability, organizations share resources and services between them to increase their return on investment. But to control the use of shared resources, it is necessary to apply access control policies which are related to how organizations control and secure their scenarios of cooperation. In this paper, we perform a Systematic Literature Review on the current solutions to define access control policies for cooperative organizations. As a result, we identify limitations such as manual negotiation for establishing policies. To address these limitations, we introduce the Semi-Automatic Generation of Access Rules Based on OrBAC (SAGARBO) component which allows semi-automatic generation of security rules based on Model-driven engineering. This reduces negotiation time and the work of the security administrator

Integrating DSLs into a Software Engineering Process: Application to Collaborative Construction of Telecom Services

International audienceThe development of large and complex systems involves many people, stakeholders. Engineeringly speaking, one way to control this complexity is by designing and analyzing the system from different perspectives. For each perspective, stakeholders benefit from means, tools, languages, specific to their activity domain. A Domain Specific Language (DSL) per perspective is such a dedicated means. While DSLs are used for modeling, other means, tools, languages, are needed for other connected activities, like testing or collaborating. However, using together such different types of tools, integrating DSLs into stakeholders' software process, is not straightforward. In this chapter we advance an integration process of DSLs with other tools. To each stakeholder, we propose they have their own DSL with associated graphical editor, operational semantics and generation of scripts for off the shelf simulators for e.g. testing. Additionally to the integrated stakeholders' software process, we introduce a model driven process dedicated to the tool vendor which creates the DSLs and its associated tools. Due to the integration of DSLs into this process, we contend that stakeholders will significantly reduce system construction time. We illustrate the two processes on Telecommunications service construction

Co-construction of Computer Science Knowledge-to-be-taught in a French Context

International audienceThe French national curricula for elementary and secondary schools introduced teaching Computer Science (CS) concepts as mandatory, beginning the 2016-2017 school year. This also raised questions related to specifically what CS concepts should be taught and how. Several proposals of textbooks, pedagogical kits and other knowledge-to-be-taught have been made; some of them contain apparently surprising and even what seems, at a first glance, scientifically incorrect knowledge, which could prove to be obstacles in pupils' learning. In this paper we analyze such proposals, and advance explanations based on the Theory of the Didactic Transposition of Knowledge (TDTK). The TDTK considers that the knowledge-to-be-taught is the result of a complex process of various interactions and negotiations between the numerous actors of the educational system. We identify such interactions, which explain the existence of didactic obstacles. Being aware of such caveats may reduce the apparition of this type of obstacles in future construction of similar CS bodies of knowledge-to-be-taught

Practical meta-model extension for modeling language profiles. An enterprise architecture modeling language extension for telecommunications service creation

National audienceModel Driven Engineering aims at changing the focus from code to models. To achieve it, enabling model transformation is essential. A type of transformation is meta-model extension. It is particularly salient for the use of models in defining Domain Specific Modeling Languages, especially for profiling existing languages. Meta-models describing language syntax have a low number of components. Accordingly, an expert-driven approach to extending meta-models is both practicable and preferable to an automatic one, which has a higher level of inaccuracy. We propose in this paper three principles for aiding an expert in practically extending meta-models with domain specific concepts. The resulted language profiles are backwards-compatible. We apply these principles to defining an ArchiMate profile for telecommunications service creation

Apprentissages informatiques et usages de la variable informatique avec Scratch dans la classe de mathématiques

International audienc