institut f¨ur informatik - PST Thesis Management Interface - LMU

2.1. Model-Driven Software Development
The software component example given earlier in this section reflects this nature in a small
scope: a general-purpose modeling language, UML, was used to create a specific modeling
language intended to model simple AUTOSAR software components.
DSLs can help bridge the gap between the problem and the solution domains: they allow
solutions to be expressed in terms of problem domain entities and at the level of abstraction
of the problem domain [FR07]. This makes it possible for domain experts to not only use
DSLs, but also understand, validate and develop the language themselves, while not having
to be concerned with implementation details at lower abstraction levels [vDKV00]. Thus,
DSLs offer abstraction qualities that are necessary to express models in MDSD.
Model transformation
Model transformations are used to transform models that were initially conceived for some
purpose into models that are better suited for other purposes while maintaining model traceability.
Maintaining model traceability means keeping the transformed models consistent and
the relationship between them traceable [FR07, HT06]. A typical example is the transformation
from a technology-independent, high-level abstraction model to a technology-specific,
low-level abstraction model that features specific data instead.
Model transformations require a model as one of the inputs in the automation process and
one or more models and/or different levels of executable code as output. Different types of
transformations exist which can be classified as follows: [BCT05]
• Refactoring transformations reorganize a model based on well-defined criteria. The
output is a revision of the original model - the refactored model.
• Model-to-model transformations convert information from one or more models to
another model or a number of models. The goal is usually to convert information at
one abstraction level to a different abstraction level. This type of transformation can
also have other purposes that are specific to certain issues within the problem domain
- such a transformation is the subject of this thesis (see section 4.1.1).
• Model-to-code transformations convert model elements into program code and are
often the final transformation that is performed.
Transformations can be applied both manually and automatically [BCT05]. In a manual
transformation, a developer or a domain expert analyzes the input model and manually
creates or modifies the elements in the transformed model by interpreting the information
in the original model. Automatic transformations apply a series of changes to a single or
a number of input models based on predefined transformation rules. The rules can be provided
by a tool used to perform the transformations or can be manually tailored based on
domain-specific knowledge. Utilizing automatic transformation requires the input model to
be syntactically and semantically well-formed. Combined, semi-automatic approaches where
the automation process requires manual input in order to produce a correct transformation
are possible, too (see sections 2.3.2 and 4.1.1).
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