Towards a Methodology for Semantics Specification of Domain-specific Models through Properties

Domain-specific languages are designed for a specific domain and their use in the development of a software system enables domain experts to understand and develop models. The full description of a complex software system uses various domain-specific languages, each language having its own meaning. The definition of the precise semantics of domain-specific models is an important problem because semantics are a necessity to develop tools allowing formal analysis and verification. Current approaches focus on specific formalisms or languages which are the most appropriate to reason about certain properties. In this work we propose an approach that allows domain experts to specify the semantics of domain-specific models through properties expressed in a domain-specific language. The advantage of the approach is that domain experts can write down and understand the properties of the models

Guiding Service Composition in a Visual Service Creation Environment

Current day service composition languages like WS-BPEL require in-depth knowledge of this language by the service composition designers. In this paper we present a high-level, visual Service Creation Environment (SCE). This SCE provides service composition templates, verifica-tion of compatibility and guidelines, and advanced separa-tion of concerns through Aspect-Oriented Software Devel-opment. Composition templates are abstract descriptions of reusable compositions containing several placeholders for services. Services are verified to be compatible with the composition template when a service is mapped onto a composition template’s placeholder. Composition guide-lines such as QoS constraints can be added to the SCE and verified. The modularization of crosscutting concerns is supported by the SCE through the general-purpose Padus Aspect-Oriented Programming language and the possibil-ity to add concern-specific languages on top of Padus. The SCE generates the appropriate WS-BPEL processes given a complete and verified service composition. 1

Correctness of model-based software composition (CMC). Proceedings. ECOOP 2003 Workshop #11 in association with the 17th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Darmstadt, Germany, July 22, 2003

This proceedings contains the contributions to the Workshop on Correctness of Model-based Software Composition, held in conjunction with the 17th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP), Darmstadt, Germany on July 22, 2003. While most events concentrate on realisations of composition on the technological level this workshop aims at closing the gap of ensuring the intended composition result supported by the usage of models. Two important problems in composition are first how to model the different assets (such as components, features or aspects) and second the composition of assets such that consistency and correctness is guaranteed. The first problem has been addressed in the Workshop on Model-based Software Reuse (ECOOP 2002). The latter problem occurs when dealing with, e.g., component interoperability, aspect weaving, feature interaction and (on a more abstract level) traceability between different views or models. One approach to deal with the composition problem is to use models allowing to model the composition. This allows checking the interoperability of the different assets to compose, the correctness of the configuration of assets and predicting properties of the assembled system (especially compliance with user requirements). In case of problem detection suitable resolution algorithms can be applied. 10 reviewed contributions give an overview about current research directions in correctness of model-based software compositions. Results from the discussions during the workshop may be found in the ECOOP 2003 workshop reader to be published by Springer LNCS. The web page of the workshop as well as the contributions of this proceedings may be found at URL: http://ssel.vub.ac.be/workshops/ECOOP2003/ Affiliated to previous ECOOP conferences a related workshop about feature interaction (ECOOP 2001) and an additional about model-based software reuse (ECOOP 2002) have been held. Their contributions are published as technical report No. 2001-14 and as technical report No. 2002-4, respectively, at the Universitaet Karlsruhe, Fakultaet fuer Informatik. URLs: http://www.info.uni-karlsruhe.de/~pulvermu/workshops/ecoop2001/ http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/cgi-bin/psview?document=/ira/2001/14 http://www.info.uni-karlsruhe.de/~pulvermu/workshops/ECOOP2002/ http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/cgi-bin/psview?document=/ira/2002/4 We would like to thank the program committee for their support as well as the authors and participants for their engaged contributions. The Workshop Organisers Ragnhild Van Der Straeten, Andreas Speck, Elke Pulvermueller, Matthias Clauss, Andreas Pleus

Using Description Logic in Object-Oriented Software Development

The blueprint of an object-oriented software application consists mainly of models drawn in a modeling language. Our goal is to develop a formal framework to support the semantic linking of these models within the software development life cycle (SDLC) using Description Logic (DL). In this paper, the translation of the state diagrams of the Uni ed Modeling Language (UML) and of constraints written in the Object Constraint Language (OCL) to the DL DLR is described. DLR is choosen because in [4], UML class diagrams are translated in this DL

Inconsistency Detection between UML Models Using RACER and nRQL

An object-oriented software design consists of models that embody a consistent view on the software system under study. We focus on design models expressed in the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and more specifically on class, state machine and sequence diagrams. In this paper, we report on our experiences in using RACER and its New Racer Query Language (nRQL) for detecting inconsistencies between models. By means of a simple, yet representative, example we show how different representations in RACER are used for the detection of inconsistencies. As such, the full power of both T-box and A-box reasoning is used in the context of inconsistency detection.