Abstract
This paper is about visual and executable domain-specific modelling languages (DSMLs) that are used at the platform independent level of the Model-Driven Architecture. We deal with DSMLs that are new or evolve rapidly and, as a consequence, have to be prototyped cheaply. We argue that for prototyping a DSML on the platform independent level, its semantics should not only be described in a transformational but also in an operational fashion. For this, we use standard modelling means, i.e. MOF and QVT Relations. We combine operational semantics descriptions with existing metamodel-based editor creation technology. This allows for cheap prototyping of visual interpreters and debuggers. We exemplify our approach with a language for Petri nets and assess the manual work necessary. Finally, we present EProvide, an implementation of our approach based on the Eclipse platform, and we identify missing features in the Eclipse tools we used.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Miller, J., Mukerji, J.: MDA Guide Version 1.0.1. Technical report, Object Management Group (OMG) (2003)
The Eclipse Foundation: Eclipse Graphical Modeling Framework (GMF) (2007), http://www.eclipse.org/gmf/
Object Management Group: Meta Object Facility 2.0 Core Specification (2006)
Object Management Group: Meta Object Facility 2.0 Query/View/Transformation Specification (2007)
Plotkin, G.D.: A Structural Approach to Operational Semantics. Technical Report DAIMI FN-19, University of Aarhus (1981)
da Silva, F.Q.B.: Correctness Proofs of Compilers and Debuggers: an Approach Based on Structural Operational Semantics. PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh (1992)
Barendregt, H.P.: The Lambda Calculus its Syntax and Semantics, 2nd edn. North Holland, Amsterdam (1987)
Budinsky, F., Merks, E., Steinberg, D.: Eclipse Modeling Framework, 2nd edn. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2006)
Brooks, C., Lee, E.A., Liu, X., Neuendorffer, S., Zhao, Y., Zheng, H.: Ptolemy II: Heterogeneous Concurrent Modeling and Design in Java. UC Berkeley (2007)
Lédeczi, Á., Bakay, Á., Maróti, M., Völgyesi, P., Nordstrom, G., Sprinkle, J., Karsai, G.: Composing Domain-Specific Design Environments. Computer 34(11), 44–51 (2001)
Sunyé, G., Pennaneach, F., Ho, W.M., Guennec, A.L., Jéquel, J.M.: Using uml action semantics for executable modeling and beyond. In: Dittrich, K.R., Geppert, A., Norrie, M.C. (eds.) CAiSE 2001. LNCS, vol. 2068, pp. 433–447. Springer, Heidelberg (2001)
Scheidgen, M., Fischer, J.: Human comprehensible and machine processable specifications of operational semantics. In: Akehurst, D.H., Vogel, R., Paige, R.F. (eds.) ECMDA-FA. LNCS, vol. 4530, pp. 157–171. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)
Muller, P., Fleurey, F., Jézéquel, J.: Weaving executability into object-oriented meta-languages. In: Briand, L.C., Williams, C. (eds.) MoDELS 2005. LNCS, vol. 3713, pp. 264–278. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)
Clark, T., Evans, A., Sammut, P., Willans, J.: Applied metamodelling: A foundation for language driven development (2004), http://www.xactium.com
Di Ruscio, D., Jouault, F., Kurtev, I., Bezivin, J., Pierantonio, A.: Extending amma for supporting dynamic semantics specifications of dsls. Technical Report HAL - CCSd - CNRS, Laboratoire D’Informatique de Nantes-Atlantique (2006)
Jouault, F., Kurtev, I.: Transforming models with atl. In: Bruel, J.-M. (ed.) MoDELS 2005. LNCS, vol. 3844, pp. 128–138. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Engels, G., Hausmann, J.H., Heckel, R., Sauer, S.: Dynamic meta-modeling: A graphical approach to the operational semantics of behavioral diagrams in uml. In: Evans, A., Kent, S., Selic, B. (eds.) UML 2000. LNCS, vol. 1939, pp. 323–337. Springer, Heidelberg (2000)
Ermel, C., Hölscher, K., Kuske, S., Ziemann, P.: Animated simulation of integrated uml behavioral models based on graph transformation. In: VL/HCC 2005, pp. 125–133. IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos (2005)
Robert Esser, J.J.: Moses: A tool suite for visual modeling of discrete-event systems. In: HCC 2001, pp. 272–279. IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos (2001)
de Lara, J., Vangheluwe, H.: Defining visual notations and their manipulation through meta-modelling and graph transformation. Journal of Visual Languages & Computing 15(3-4), 309–330 (2004)
Wachsmuth, G.: Metamodel adaptation and model co-adaptation. In: Ernst, E. (ed.) ECOOP 2007. LNCS, vol. 4609. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Sadilek, D.A., Wachsmuth, G. (2008). Prototyping Visual Interpreters and Debuggers for Domain-Specific Modelling Languages. In: Schieferdecker, I., Hartman, A. (eds) Model Driven Architecture – Foundations and Applications. ECMDA-FA 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5095. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69100-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69100-6_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-69095-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69100-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)