skip to main content
10.1145/3239372.3239376acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagesmodelsConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

On the Quest for Flexible Modelling

Published: 14 October 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Modelling is a fundamental activity in Software Engineering, and central to model-based engineering approaches. It is used for different purposes, and so its nature can range from informal (e.g., as a casual mechanism for problem discussion and understanding) to fully formal (e.g., to enable the automated processing of models by model transformations). However, existing modelling tools only serve one of these two extreme purposes: either to create informal drawings or diagrams, or to build models fully conformant to their modelling language. This lack of reconciliation is hampering the adoption of model-based techniques in practice, as they are deemed too imprecise in the former case, and too rigid in the latter.
In this new ideas paper, we claim that modelling tools need further flexibility covering different stages, purposes and approaches to modelling. We detail requirements for such a new generation of modelling tools, describe our first steps towards their realization in the Kite metamodelling tool, and showcase application scenarios.

References

[1]
Aditya Agrawal, Attila Vizhanyo, Zsolt Kalmar, Feng Shi, Anantha Narayanan, and Gabor Karsai. 2005. Reusable idioms and patterns in graph transformation languages. Electr. Notes Theor. Comput. Sci. 127, 1 (2005), 181--192.
[2]
Seiki Akama and Newton C. A. da Costa. 2016. Why paraconsistent logics? In Towards Paraconsistent Engineering. Intelligent Systems Reference Library, Vol. 110. Springer, 7--24.
[3]
Colin Atkinson, Ralph Gerbig, and Mathias Fritzsche. 2015. A multilevel approach to modeling language extension in the enterprise systems domain. Inf. Syst. 54 (2015), 289--307.
[4]
Colin Atkinson, Ralph Gerbig, and Bastian Kennel. 2012. On-the-fly emendation of multilevel models. In ECMFA (LNCS), Vol. 7349. Springer, 194--209.
[5]
Colin Atkinson, Bastian Kennel, and Björn Goß. 2010. The level-agnostic modeling language. In SLE (LNCS), Vol. 6563. Springer, 266--275.
[6]
Colin Atkinson and Thomas Kühne. 2001. The essence of multilevel metamodeling. In UML (LNCS), Vol. 2185. Springer, 19--33.
[7]
Colin Atkinson and Thomas Kühne. 2003. Model-driven development: A metamodeling foundation. IEEE Software 20, 5 (2003), 36--41.
[8]
Colin Atkinson and Thomas Kühne. 2008. Reducing accidental complexity in domain models. Software and System Modeling 7, 3 (2008), 345--359.
[9]
Jean Bézivin. 2005. Model driven engineering: An emerging technical space. In GTTSE Revised Papers (LNCS), Vol. 4143. Springer, 36--64.
[10]
Jean-Michel Bruel, Benoit Combemale, Esther Guerra, Jean-Marc Jézéquel, Jörg Kienzle, Juan de Lara, Gunter Mussbacher, Eugene Syriani, and Hans Vangheluwe. 2018. Model transformation reuse across metamodels: A classification and comparison of approaches. In ICMT (LNCS), Vol. 10888. Springer, 92--109.
[11]
Hyun Cho, Jeffrey G. Gray, and Eugene Syriani. 2012. Creating visual domain-specific modeling languages from end-user demonstration. In MiSE @ ICSE. 22--28.
[12]
Antonio Cicchetti, Davide Di Ruscio, Romina Eramo, and Alfonso Pierantonio. 2008. Automating coevolution in model-driven engineering. In IEEE EDOC. IEEE Computer Society, 222--231.
[13]
Juan de Lara and Esther Guerra. 2010. Deep meta-modelling with MetaDepth. In TOOLS (LNCS), Vol. 6141. Springer, 1--20.
[14]
Juan de Lara and Esther Guerra. 2017. A posteriori typing for model-driven engineering: Concepts, analysis, and applications. ACM Trans. Softw. Eng. Methodol. 25, 4 (2017), 31:1--31:60.
[15]
Juan de Lara, Esther Guerra, Ruth Cobos, and Jaime Moreno-Llorena. 2014. Extending deep meta-modelling for practical model-driven engineering. Comput. J. 57, 1 (2014), 36--58.
[16]
Juan de Lara, Esther Guerra, and Jesús Sánchez Cuadrado. 2015. Model-driven engineering with domain-specific meta-modelling languages. Software and Systems Modeling 14, 1 (2015), 429--459.
[17]
Juan de Lara, Esther Guerra, and Jesús Sánchez Cuadrado. 2014. When and how to use Multilevel modelling. ACM Trans. Softw. Eng. Methodol. 24, 2 (2014), 12:1--12:46.
[18]
Andrej Dyck, Andreas Ganser, and Horst Lichter. 2014. A framework for model recommenders - Requirements, architecture and tool support. In MODELSWARD. SciTePress, 282--290.
[19]
Epsilon. 2012. http://www.eclipse.org/epsilon/.
[20]
Claudia Ermel. 2006. Simulation and animation of visual languages based on typed algebraic graph transformation. Ph.D. Dissertation. TU Berlin. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0dbf/38e3b2cc79f2b122adab82ca1f21e442942e.pdf.
[21]
FlexMDE series of workshops. 2018. http://www.di.univaq.it/flexmde/index.php?pageId=previous_editions.
[22]
Fahad Rafique Golra, Antoine Beugnard, Fabien Dagnat, Sylvain Guérin, and Christophe Guychard. 2016. Using free modeling as an agile method for developing domain specific modeling languages. In MoDELS. ACM, 24--34.
[23]
Regina Hebig, Djamel Eddine Khelladi, and Reda Bendraou. 2017. Approaches to coevolution of metamodels and models: A survey. IEEE Trans. Software Eng. 43, 5 (2017), 396--414.
[24]
Nicolas Hili. 2016. A metamodeling framework for promoting flexibility and creativity over strict model conformance. In FlexMDE @ MoDELS, Vol. 1694. CEUR, 2--11.
[25]
Anthony Hunter and Bashar Nuseibeh. 1998. Managing inconsistent specifications: Reasoning, analysis, and action. ACM Trans. Softw. Eng. Methodol. 7, 4 (1998), 335--367.
[26]
Frédéric Jouault, Freddy Allilaire, Jean Bézivin, and Ivan Kurtev. 2008. ATL: A model transformation tool. Sci. Comp. Programming 72, 1 (2008), 31--39.
[27]
K. C. Kang, S. G. Cohen, J. A. Hess, W. E. Novak, and A. S. Peterson. 1990. Feature-Oriented Domain Analysis (FODA) Feasibility Study. Technical Report. Carnegie-Mellon University Software Engineering Institute.
[28]
Gregor Kiczales and Jim Des Rivieres. 1991. The Art of the Metaobject Protocol. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.
[29]
Dimitrios S. Kolovos, Nicholas Drivalos Matragkas, Horacio Hoyos Rodriguez, and Richard F. Paige. 2013. Programmatic muddle management. In XM @ MoDELS, Vol. 1089. CEUR, 2--10.
[30]
Dimitrios S. Kolovos, Richard F. Paige, and Fiona Polack. 2006. The Epsilon Object Language (EOL). In ECMDA-FA'06 (LNCS), Vol. 4066. Springer, 128--142.
[31]
Dimitrios S. Kolovos, Richard F. Paige, and Fiona Polack. 2009. On the evolution of OCL for capturing structural constraints in modelling languages. In Rigorous Methods for Software Construction and Analysis, Essays Dedicated to Egon Börger on the Occasion of His 60th Birthday (LNCS), Vol. 5115. Springer, 204--218.
[32]
Thomas Kühne. 2009. Contrasting classification with generalisation. In APCCM (CRPIT), Vol. 96. Australian Computer Society, 71--78.
[33]
Zsolt Lattmann, Tamás Kecskés, Patrik Meijer, Gabor Karsai, Péter Völgyesi, and Ákos Lédeczi. 2016. Abstractions for modeling complex systems. In ISoLA (II) (LNCS), Vol. 9953. 68--79.
[34]
Jesús J. López-Fernández, Jesús Sánchez Cuadrado, Esther Guerra, and Juan de Lara. 2015. Example-driven meta-model development. Software and Systems Modeling 14, 4 (2015), 1323--1347.
[35]
Jesús J. López-Fernández, Esther Guerra, and Juan de Lara. 2016. Combining unit and specification-based testing for metamodel validation and verification. Inf. Syst. 62 (2016), 104--135.
[36]
Levi Lúcio, Saad bin Abid, Salman Rahman, Vincent Aravantinos, Ralf Kuestner, and Eduard Harwardt. 2017. Process-aware model-driven development environments. In MODELS Satellite Events (CEUR Workshop Proceedings), Vol. 2019. CEUR-WS.org, 405--411.
[37]
Bashar Nuseibeh, Steve M. Easterbrook, and Alessandra Russo. 2000. Leveraging inconsistency in software development. IEEE Computer 33, 4 (2000), 24--29.
[38]
Bashar Nuseibeh, Steve M. Easterbrook, and Alessandra Russo. 2001. Making inconsistency respectable in software development. Journal of Systems and Software 58, 2 (2001), 171--180.
[39]
OMG. 2013. SMOF 1.0. http://www.omg.org/spec/SMOF/1.0/.
[40]
OMG. 2017. UML 2.5.1. https://www.omg.org/spec/UML/.
[41]
Martin P. Robillard, Robert J. Walker, and Thomas Zimmermann. 2010. Recommendation systems for software engineering. IEEE Software 27, 4 (2010), 80--86.
[42]
Davide Di Ruscio, Juan de Lara, and Alfonso Pierantonio. 2017. Special issue on Flexible Model Driven Engineering. Computer Languages, Systems & Structures 49 (2017), 174--175.
[43]
Daniel A. Sadilek and Stephan Weißleder. 2008. Testing metamodels. In ECMFA (LNCS), Vol. 5095. Springer, 294--309.
[44]
Douglas C. Schmidt. 2006. Guest Editor's Introduction: Model-Driven Engineering. IEEE Computer 39, 2 (2006), 25--31.
[45]
Jeremy G. Siek and Walid Taha. 2007. Gradual typing for objects. In ECOOP (LNCS), Vol. 4609. Springer, 2--27.
[46]
Jean-Sébastien Sottet and Nicolas Biri. 2016. JSMF: A javascript flexible modelling framework. In FlexMDE @ MoDELS, Vol. 1694. CEUR, 42--51.
[47]
Dave Steinberg, Frank Budinsky, Marcelo Paternostro, and Ed Merks. 2008. EMF: Eclipse Modeling Framework, 2nd Edition. Addison-Wesley Professional, NJ.
[48]
Yentl Van Tendeloo and Hans Vangheluwe. 2017. The modelverse: A tool for multi-paradigm modelling and simulation. In WSC. IEEE, 944--955.
[49]
David M. Ungar and Randall B. Smith. 1991. SELF: The power of simplicity. Lisp and Symbolic Computation 4, 3 (1991), 187--205.
[50]
W3C. 2017. OWL Web Ontology Language. https://www.w3.org/standards/techs/owl.
[51]
Dustin Wüest, Norbert Seyff, and Martin Glinz. 2015. FLEXISKETCH TEAM: Collaborative sketching and notation creation on the fly. In ICSE, Vol. 2. IEEE, 685--688.
[52]
Athanasios Zolotas, Robert Clarisó, Nicholas Matragkas, Dimitrios S. Kolovos, and Richard F. Paige. 2017. Constraint programming for type inference in flexible model-driven engineering. Computer Languages, Systems & Structures 49 (2017), 216--230.

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Adaptive modelling languages: Abstract syntax and model migrationACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology10.1145/3702975Online publication date: 2-Nov-2024
  • (2024)10 years of Model Federation with Openflexo: Challenges and Lessons LearnedProceedings of the ACM/IEEE 27th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems10.1145/3640310.3674084(25-36)Online publication date: 22-Sep-2024
  • (2024)How are informal diagrams used in software engineering? An exploratory study of open-source and industrial practicesSoftware and Systems Modeling10.1007/s10270-024-01252-3Online publication date: 20-Dec-2024
  • Show More Cited By

Recommendations

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences
MODELS '18: Proceedings of the 21th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems
October 2018
478 pages
ISBN:9781450349499
DOI:10.1145/3239372
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 14 October 2018

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Check for updates

Author Tags

  1. Flexible modelling
  2. Model-driven engineering
  3. Modelling process

Qualifiers

  • Research-article
  • Research
  • Refereed limited

Conference

MODELS '18
Sponsor:

Acceptance Rates

MODELS '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 29 of 101 submissions, 29%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 144 of 506 submissions, 28%

Contributors

Other Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

  • Downloads (Last 12 months)18
  • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)1
Reflects downloads up to 20 Jan 2025

Other Metrics

Citations

Cited By

View all
  • (2024)Adaptive modelling languages: Abstract syntax and model migrationACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology10.1145/3702975Online publication date: 2-Nov-2024
  • (2024)10 years of Model Federation with Openflexo: Challenges and Lessons LearnedProceedings of the ACM/IEEE 27th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems10.1145/3640310.3674084(25-36)Online publication date: 22-Sep-2024
  • (2024)How are informal diagrams used in software engineering? An exploratory study of open-source and industrial practicesSoftware and Systems Modeling10.1007/s10270-024-01252-3Online publication date: 20-Dec-2024
  • (2023)Engineering Low-Code Modelling Environments with Dandelion2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems Companion (MODELS-C)10.1109/MODELS-C59198.2023.00011(14-18)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2023
  • (2023)Towards supporting malleable architecture models2023 IEEE 20th International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C)10.1109/ICSA-C57050.2023.00064(272-275)Online publication date: Mar-2023
  • (2023)A Vision for Flexible GLSP-Based Web Modeling ToolsThe Practice of Enterprise Modeling10.1007/978-3-031-48583-1_7(109-124)Online publication date: 25-Nov-2023
  • (2023)How Inclusive Is Conceptual Modeling? A Systematic Review of Literature and Tools for Disability-Aware Conceptual ModelingConceptual Modeling10.1007/978-3-031-47262-6_4(65-83)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2023
  • (2022)Utilizing multi-level concepts for multi-phase modelingSoftware and Systems Modeling10.1007/s10270-021-00963-121:4(1665-1683)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2022
  • (2022)From Informal Architecture Diagrams to Flexible Blended ModelsSoftware Architecture10.1007/978-3-031-16697-6_10(143-158)Online publication date: 9-Sep-2022
  • (2021)Towards Facilitating the Exploration of Informal Concepts in Formal Modeling Tools2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems Companion (MODELS-C)10.1109/MODELS-C53483.2021.00044(244-248)Online publication date: Oct-2021
  • Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

PDF

eReader

View online with eReader.

eReader

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share this Publication link

Share on social media