Example-based generation of graphical modelling environments

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42061-5_7Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) present numerous benefits like powerful domain-specific primitives, an intuitive syntax for domain experts, and the possibility of advanced code generation for narrow domains. While a graphical syntax is sometimes desired for a DSL, constructing graphical modelling environments is a costly and highly technical task. This relegates domain experts to play a passive role in their development and hinders a wider adoption of graphical DSLs. Targeting a simpler DSL construction process, we propose an example based technique for the automatic generation of modelling environments for graphical DSLs. This way, starting from examples of the DSL likely provided by domain experts using drawing tools like yED, our system is able to synthesize a graphical modelling environment that mimics the syntax of the provided examples. This includes a meta-model for the abstract syntax of the DSL, and a graphical concrete syntax supporting spatial relationships like containment or attachment. The system is implemented as an Eclipse plugin, and we demonstrate its usage on a running example in the home networking domain.Work supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (TIN2014-52129-R), the Madrid Region (S2013/ICE-3006), and the EU Commission (FP7-ICT-2013-10, #611125)

Geppetto: a reusable modular open platform for exploring neuroscience data and models

Geppetto is an open-source platform that provides generic middleware infrastructure for building both online and desktop tools for visualizing neuroscience models and data and managing simulations. Geppetto underpins a number of neuroscience applications, including Open Source Brain (OSB), Virtual Fly Brain (VFB), NEURON-UI and NetPyNE-UI. OSB is used by researchers to create and visualize computational neuroscience models described in NeuroML and simulate them through the browser. VFB is the reference hub for Drosophila melanogaster neural anatomy and imaging data including neuropil, segmented neurons, microscopy stacks and gene expression pattern data. Geppetto is also being used to build a new user interface for NEURON, a widely used neuronal simulation environment, and for NetPyNE, a Python package for network modelling using NEURON. Geppetto defines domain agnostic abstractions used by all these applications to represent their models and data and offers a set of modules and components to integrate, visualize and control simulations in a highly accessible way. The platform comprises a backend which can connect to external data sources, model repositories and simulators together with a highly customizable frontend.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Connectome to behaviour: modelling C. elegans at cellular resolution'

Towards a Generic DSL for Automated Marking Systems

The automated static and dynamic assessment of programs makes it practical to increase the learning opportunities of large student classes through the regular assessment of programming assignments. Automatic assessments are traditionally specified in tool-specific languages which are closely linked to the functionality and implementation of a particular tool. This paper considers existing specification languages for assessments and proposes a generic and extensible domain-specific language for the specification of programming assignment assessments.http://www.springer.comseries/7899Computer Scienc

DSLs in Robotics: A Case Study in Programming Self-reconfigurable Robots

Robotic systems blend hardware and software in a holistic way that intrinsically raises many crosscutting concerns such as concurrency, uncertainty, and time constraints. These concerns make programming robotic systems challenging as expertise from multiple domains needs to be integrated conceptually and technically. Programming languages play a central role in providing a higher level of abstraction. This briefing presents a case study on the evolution of domain-specific languages based on modular robotics. The case study on the evolution of domain-specific languages is based on a series of DSL prototypes developed over five years for the domain of modular, self-reconfigurable robots

Verification of Scheme Plans Using CSP || B

This paper presents a tool-supported approach to graphically editing scheme plans and their safety verification. The graphical tool is based on a domain-specific language which is used as a basis for a transformation to a CSP||B formal model of a scheme plan. The models produce use a variety of abstraction techniques that make the analysis of large scale plans feasible

Validation of Service Blueprint Models by Means of Formal Simulation Techniques

As service design has gained interest in the last years, so has gained one of its primary tools: the Service Blueprint. In essence, a service blueprint is a graphical tool for the design of business models, specifically for the design of business service operations. Despite its level of adoption, tool support for service design tasks is still on its early days and available tools for service blueprint modeling are mainly focused on enhancing usability and enabling collaborative edition, disregarding the formal aspects of modeling. In this paper we present a way to support the validation of service blueprint models by simulation. This approach is based on annotating the models with formal semantics, so that each task can be translated into formal logics, and from them, to executable SQL statements. This works opens a new direction in the way to bridge formal techniques and creative service design processes.Peer Reviewe

A model-driven engineering approach for the service integration of IoT systems

With the development of IoT devices and web services, the objects of the real world are more interconnected, which allows applications to extend their characteristics in different fields, including industrial or home environments, among other possible examples such as health, trade, transport, or agriculture. However, this development highlights the challenge of interoperability, because devices are heterogeneous and use different communication protocols and different data formats. For this reason, we propose a model for point-to-point integration in three-layer IoT applications: (a) hardware, which corresponds to the physical objects (controller, sensor and actuator), (b) communication, which is the bridge that allows the exchange of data between a MQTT queue and REST web services, and (c) integration, which establishes a sequence of transactions to coordinate the components of the system. For this purpose, a metamodel, a graphic editor and a code generator have been developed that allow the developer to design IoT systems formed by heterogeneous components without having in-depth knowledge of every hardware and software platform. In order to validate our proposal, a smart home scenario has been developed, with a series of sensors and actuators that combined show a complex behavior