Metamodeling is an essential foundation for MDD, but there's little consensus on the precise form it should take and role it should play. The authors analyze the underlying motivation for MDD and then derive a concrete set of requirements that a supporting infrastructure should satisfy. They discuss why the traditional "language definition" interpretation of metamodeling isn't a sufficient foundation and explain how it can be extended to unlock MDD's full potential.

https://homepages.ecs.vuw.ac.nz/~tk/publications/papers/mda-foundation.pdf

Model-driven development: a metamodeling foundation

In November 2000, the OMG made public the MDAinitiative, a particular variant of a new global trend called MDE (Model Driven Engineering). The basic ideas of MDA are germane to many other approaches such as generative programming, domain specific languages, model-integrated computing, generic model management, software factories, etc. MDA may be defined as the realization of MDE principles around a set of OMG standards like MOF, XMI, OCL, UML, CWM, SPEM, etc. MDE is presently making several promises about the potential benefits that could be reaped from a move from code-centric to model-based practices. When we observe these claims, we may wonder when they may be satisfied: on the short, medium or long term or even never perhaps for some of them. This paper tries to propose a vision of the development of MDE based on some lessons learnt in the past 30 years in the development of object technology. The main message is that a basic principle ("Everything is an object") was most helpful in driving the technology in the direction of simplicity, generality and power of integration. Similarly in MDE, the basic principle that "Everything is a model" has many interesting properties, among others the capacity to generate a realistic research agenda. We postulate here that two core relations (representation and conformance) are associated to this principle, as inheritance and instantiation were associated to the object unification principle in the class-based languages of the 80's. We suggest that this may be most useful in understanding many questions about MDE in general and the MDA approach in particular. We provide some illustrative examples. The personal position taken in this paper would be useful if it could generate a critical debate on the research directions in MDE.

On the unification power of models

We present a modeling language for the model-driven development of secure, distributed systems based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Our approach is based on role-based access control with additional support for specifying authorization constraints. We show how UMLcan be used to specify information related to access control in the overall design of an application and how this information can be used to automatically generate complete access control infrastructures. Our approach can be used to improve productivity during the development of secure distributed systems and the quality of the resulting systems.

/pdf/secureuml-a-uml-based-modeling-language-for-model-driven-3nljxr03ps.pdf

SecureUML: A UML-Based Modeling Language for Model-Driven Security

This book discusses how model-based approaches can improve the daily practice of software professionals. This is known as Model-Driven Software Engineering (MDSE) or, simply, Model-Driven Engineering (MDE). MDSE practices have proved to increase efficiency and effectiveness in software development, as demonstrated by various quantitative and qualitative studies. MDSE adoption in the software industry is foreseen to grow exponentially in the near future, e.g., due to the convergence of software development and business analysis. The aim of this book is to provide you with an agile and flexible tool to introduce you to the MDSE world, thus allowing you to quickly understand its basic principles and techniques and to choose the right set of MDSE instruments for your needs so that you can start to benefit from MDSE right away. The book is organized into two main parts. The first part discusses the foundations of MDSE in terms of basic concepts (i.e., models and transformations), driving principles, application scenarios and current standards, like the well-known MDA initiative proposed by OMG (Object Management Group) as well as the practices on how to integrate MDSE in existing development processes. The second part deals with the technical aspects of MDSE, spanning from the basics on when and how to build a domain-specific modeling language, to the description of Model-to-Text and Model-to-Model transformations, and the tools that support the management of MDSE projects. The book is targeted to a diverse set of readers, spanning: professionals, CTOs, CIOs, and team managers that need to have a bird's eye vision on the matter, so as to take the appropriate decisions when it comes to choosing the best development techniques for their company or team; software analysts, developers, or designers that expect to use MDSE for improving everyday work productivity, either by applying the basic modeling techniques and notations or by defining new domain-specific modeling languages and applying end-to-end MDSE practices in the software factory; and academic teachers and students to address undergrad and postgrad courses on MDSE. In addition to the contents of the book, more resources are provided on the book's website http://www.mdse-book.com/, including the examples presented in the book. Table of Contents: Introduction / MDSE Principles / MDSE Use Cases / Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) / Integration of MDSE in your Development Process / Modeling Languages at a Glance / Developing your Own Modeling Language / Model-to-Model Transformations / Model-to-Text Transformations / Managing Models / Summary

Model-Driven Software Engineering in Practice

We are currently witnessing an important paradigm shift in information system construction, namely the move from object and component technology to model technology. The object technology revolution has allowed the replacement of the over twenty-year-old step-wise procedural decomposition paradigm with the more fashionable object composition paradigm. Surprisingly, this evolution seems to have triggered another even more radical change, the current trend toward model transformation. A concrete example is the Object Management Group's rapid move from its previous Object Management Architecture vision to the latest Model-Driven Architecture. This paper proposes an interpretation of this evolution through abstract investigation. In order to stay as language-independent as possible, we have employed the neutral formalism of Sowa's conceptual graphs to describe the various situations characterizing this organization. This will allow us to identify potential problems in the proposed modeling framework and suggest some possible solutions.

Towards a precise definition of the OMG/MDA framework

This paper offers an overview of the basic MDA terms and concepts and the relationships among them, with the latter expressed in terms of the UML, and also an outline of a proposed software development process that would leverage MDA. The article also discusses the idea of "accelerated" MDA, which involves using one metamodel to do mappings of metamodels to multiple platforms.

Kendall Scott

Papers

Model-Driven Architecture