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A tool environment for quality assurance based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework

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Abstract

The paradigm of model-based software development has become more and more popular since it promises an increase in the efficiency and quality of software development. Following this paradigm, models become primary artifacts in the software development process. Therefore, software quality and quality assurance frequently leads back to the quality and quality assurance of the involved models. In our approach, we propose a model quality assurance process that can be adapted to project-specific and domain-specific needs. This process is based on static model analysis using model metrics and model smells. Based on the outcome of the model analysis, appropriate model refactoring steps can be performed. In this paper, we present a tool environment conveniently supporting the proposed model quality assurance process. In particular, the presented tools support metrics reporting, smell detection, and refactoring for models being based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework, a widely used open source technology in model-based software development.

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Notes

  1. In this article, we refer to UML2 being the standard EMF-based representation of UML2, i.e. org.eclipse.emf.uml2.uml.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been partially funded by Siemens Corporate Technology, Germany. Furthermore, we thank the students Jan Baart, Matthias Burhenne, Gerrit H. Freise, Florian Mantz, Pawel Stepien, and Alexander Weber for their work on our tools. Last but not least, we like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the previous version of this article.

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  1. FB 12—Mathematics and Computer Science, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Hans-Meerwein-Strasse, 35032, Marburg, Germany

    Thorsten Arendt & Gabriele Taentzer

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  1. Thorsten Arendt
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  2. Gabriele Taentzer
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Correspondence to Thorsten Arendt.

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Arendt, T., Taentzer, G. A tool environment for quality assurance based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework. Autom Softw Eng 20, 141–184 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10515-012-0114-7

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