物件導向軟體之架構(Object-Oriented Software Construction)探討

Model transformations are touted to play a key role in Model Driven DevelopmentTM. Although well-established standards for creating metamodels such as the Meta-Object Facility exist, there is currently no mature foundation for specifying transformations among models. We propose a framework for the classification of several existing and proposed model transformation approaches. The classification framework is given as a feature model that makes explicit the different design choices for model transformations. Based on our analysis of model transformation approaches, we propose a few major categories in which most approaches fit.

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Feature-based survey of model transformation approaches

This article proposes a taxonomy of model transformation, based on the discussions of a working group on model transformation of the Dagstuhl seminar on Language Engineering for Model-Driven Software Development. This taxonomy can be used, among others, to help developers in deciding which model transformation language or tool is best suited to carry out a particular model transformation activity.

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A Taxonomy of Model Transformation

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

Support for automated model transformation is essential for realizing a Model Driven Development (MDD) process. However, model transformation is only one of the many tools in a model engineering toolkit. To apply MDD in the large, automated support for a number of additional tasks such as model comparison, merging, validation and model-to-text transformation, is essential. While a number of successful model transformation languages have been currently proposed, the majority of them have been developed in isolation and as a result, they face consistency and integration difficulties with languages that support other model management tasks. We present the Epsilon Transformation Language (ETL), a hybrid model transformation language that has been developed atop the infrastructure provided by the Epsilon model management platform. By building atop Epsilon, ETL is seamlessly integrated with a number of other task-specific languages to help to realize composite model management workflows.

The Epsilon Transformation Language

The model-driven approach can increase development productivity and quality by describing important aspects of a solution with human-friendly abstractions and by generating common application fragments with templates. This article examines different approaches to model transformations and recommends desirable language characteristics for describing them.

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Model transformation: the heart and soul of model-driven software development

Business process integration and automation are among the most significant factors driving the information technology industry today. In addressing the manifold technology challenges of integration and automation, new standardization efforts aim at improving the interoperability of businesses by moving toward a declarative specification of business processes, that is, one which describes what a business process does and not how it is implemented. At the same time, Model Driven Architecture® focuses on improving the software-engineering methods with which business process solutions are implemented by separating the business or application logic from the underlying platform technology and representing this logic with precise semantic models. In this paper, we present an approach to the model-driven generation of programs in the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS), which transforms a graphically represented control-flow model into executable code by using techniques that originated in compiler theory. We discuss the underlying algorithms as well as general questions concerning the representation and analysis of model transformations. We study a declarative representation of transformation rules, where preconditions and postconditions are represented in the Object Constraint Language. By adopting a declarative approach, we pave the way for future automatic consistency checking of transformation rules and bidirectional reconciliation of evolving models.

Declarative techniques for model-driven business process integration

Computer architecture manuals describe the instruction set of the machine and the semantics of the machine instructions by a combination of natural language and ISP (Instruction Set Processor) descriptions. The syntax of the instructions in assembly is well defined in the form of tables in the manual. However the semantics is not so well specified and descriptions vary widely from one manual to another. When developing a retargetable binary translator as much as possible needs to be specified in order to automatically generate code from specifications, hence separating machine-independent issues from the manual coding stage. The specification of the semantics of machine instructions is one such task, with the aim of generating suitable code for an intermediate representation that is to be used during the analysis stage. We describe the design process used to develop a semantic specification language, SSL, to integrate into a retargetable binary translation framework. The techniques described herein are suitable not just to binary translators but also to machine-code manipulation tools such as optimizing compilers, binary profilers, instrumentors, and binary debuggers.

Specifying the semantics of machine instructions

The purpose of this paper is to first showcase the concept of an operation schema a precise form of system-level operation specification and secondly show how operation schemas enhance development when they are used as a supplement to use case descriptions. An operation schema declaratively describes the effects of a system operation by pre- and postconditions using the Object Constraint Language (OCL), as defined by the Unified Modeling Language (UML). In particular, the paper highlights techniques to map use cases to operation schemas and discusses the advantages of doing so in terms of clarifying the granularity and purpose of use cases and providing a precise specification of system behavior.

From use cases to system operation specifications

Despite advances in implementation technologies for distributed systems during the last few years, little attention has been given to distributed systems within software development methodologies. The contribution of this paper is a UML-based approach for specifying concurrent behavior and timing constraints-- often inherent characteristics of distributed systems. We propose a novel approach for specifying concurrent behavior of reactive systems in OCL and several constructs for precisely describing timing constraints on UML statemachines.More precisely, we show how we enriched operation schemas--pre- and postcondition assertions of system operations written in OCL--by extending the current calculus with constructs for asserting synchronization on shared resources. Also, we describe how we use new and existing constructs for UML statemachines to specify timing constraints on the system interface protocol (SIP)--a restricted form of UML protocol statemachine. Finally, we discuss how both the extended system operation and SIP models are complementary.

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Shane Sendall

Papers

Model transformation: the heart and soul of model-driven software development

Declarative techniques for model-driven business process integration

Specifying the semantics of machine instructions

From use cases to system operation specifications

Specifying Concurrent System Behavior and Timing Constraints Using OCL and UML