On the satisfiability of dependency constraints in entity-relationship schemata
Information Systems
On Formalizing the UML Object Constraint Language OCL
ER '98 Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling
Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual, The (2nd Edition)
Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual, The (2nd Edition)
Verification of UML/OCL Class Diagrams using Constraint Programming
ICSTW '08 Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop
Reasoning on UML class diagrams
Artificial Intelligence
Enhancing the semantics of UML association redefinition
Data & Knowledge Engineering
On the use of association redefinition in UML class diagrams
ER'06 Proceedings of the 25th international conference on Conceptual Modeling
Management of Correctness Problems in UML Class Diagrams Towards a Pattern-Based Approach
International Journal of Information System Modeling and Design
MODELS'12 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems
Finite satisfiability of UML class diagrams with constrained class hierarchy
ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM) - In memoriam, fault detection and localization, formal methods, modeling and design
| Hi-index | 0.00 |
MDE and software evolution call for model-level design support, that includes reasoning capabilities such as query answering, verification and validation, static analysis and model transformation. Automation of all activities requires well-defined semantics for models. This is particularly important for the class diagram model, which is central in UML. However, since UML specification is verbal and imprecise, the exact meaning of many class diagram constructs and their interaction is still obscure. There are major problems with the inter-association constraints subsets, union, redefinition, association specialization, association-class specialization and XOR. Although their standard semantics is ambiguous and their interaction unclear, the UML meta-model intensively uses these constraints. Moreover, some of these interactions have been declared in the UML meta-model as variation points. The paper discusses possible semantics of inter-association constraints (subsets, union, redefinition and association-class specialization), analyzes their interaction, and suggests coherent semantics that minimizes contradictions with the metamodel (association specialization and XOR are left out, due to space limitations). The paper also introduces rules that enforce model correctness. This paper is the first to provide an inclusive analysis of all inter-association constraints.