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A theoretic framework of bidirectional transformation between systems and models

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Abstract

Synchronization between systems and models has been explored in model-driven engineering to enable model-based system management. Despite its promising use, there is a lack of a theoretic foundation for state-based system-model synchronization. This paper proposes a theory for state-based system-model bidirectional transformation (BX), and defines seven combinators for system-model BX to facilitate the development of well-behaved synchronizer programs. A system-model BX is a single program that converts a system with a model consistently. Forwards, it creates a model according to a system as a conventional BX. Backwards, it generates a set of system edits, which can turn the current system into a new state that is consistent with the given model. System-model BX is fully aware of the domain constraints about how to change a system, and plans a reasonable execution order for those edits, rather than applying them blindly. The paper also demonstrates the use of system-model BX by building a generic system-model synchronizer and a concrete file system synchronizer.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 4192036).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer and Communication Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiao He

  2. Engineering Research Center of Intelligent Supercomputing, Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiao He

  3. School of Information Science and Technology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Zhenjiang Hu

  4. College of Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Na Meng

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  1. Xiao He
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  2. Zhenjiang Hu
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  3. Na Meng
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Correspondence to Xiao He.

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He, X., Hu, Z. & Meng, N. A theoretic framework of bidirectional transformation between systems and models. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 65, 202103 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-020-3276-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-020-3276-5

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