Integrating a Declarative with an Imperative Model Transformation Language

Abstract. By using a small, yet complex, case study as a model transformation language benchmark, advantages and limitations of several language paradigms can be identified. On the one hand, declarative languages only support the specification of constraints that need to be maintained by a transformation. This limitation enables engines to apply default transformation strategies for handling common cases of constraint violation. On the other hand, imperative languages support the explicit specification of model updates. This additional expressiveness comes at the cost of more verbose specifications. Therefore, this paper proposes a new, hybrid, transformation language that combines the advantages of two legacy languages from these two categories.