A metamodeling approach to pattern specification

  • Authors:

  • Maged Elaasar;Lionel C. Briand;Yvan Labiche

  • Affiliations:

  • Software Quality Engineering Laboratory (SQUALL), Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada;Software Quality Engineering Laboratory (SQUALL), Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada;Software Quality Engineering Laboratory (SQUALL), Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

  • Venue:
  • MoDELS'06 Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

This paper presents the Pattern Modeling Framework (PMF), a new metamodeling approach to pattern specification for MOF-compliant modeling frameworks and languages. Patterns need to be precisely specified before a tool can manipulate them, and though several approaches to pattern specification have been proposed, they do not provide the scalability and flexibility required in practice. PMF provides a pattern specification language called Epattern, which is capable of precisely specifying patterns in MOF-compliant metamodels. The language is defined as an extension to MOF by adding semantics inspired from the UML composite structure diagram. The language also comes with a graphical notation and a recommended iterative specification process. It also contains features to manage the complexity of specifying patterns and simplify their application and detection in user models. Most importantly, the language is implemented using state-of-the-art technologies that are heavily used by major modeling tool vendors, thus facilitating its adoption.