Designing Variability Modeling Languages

Abstract

The essence of software product line engineering (SPLE) is the process of factoring out commonalities and systematizing variabilities, that is, differences, among the products in a SPL. A key discipline in SPLE is variability modeling. It focuses on abstracting the variability realized in the many development artifacts of an SPL, such as code, models, and documents.

This talk will explore the design space of languages that abstract variability, from feature modeling and decision modeling to highly expressive domain-specific languages. This design space embodies a progression of structural complexity, from lists and trees to graphs, correlating with the increasing closeness to implementation. I will also identify a set of basic variability realization mechanisms. I will illustrate the variability abstraction and realization concepts using Clafer, a modeling language designed to support these concepts using a minimal number of constructs. I will also report on the progress towards a Common Variability Language, the Object Management Groups effort to standardize variability modeling, which embodies many of these concepts. I will close with an outlook on the future research challenges in variability modeling.