Search

Formalization is becoming more common in all stages of the development of information systems, as a better understanding of its benefits emerges. Classification systems are ubiquitous, no more so than in domain modeling. The classification pattern that underlies these systems provides a good case study of the move toward formalization in part because it illustrates some of the barriers to formalization, including the formal complexity of the pattern and the ontological issues surrounding the “one and the many.” Powersets are a way of characterizing the (complex) formal structure of the classification pattern, and their formalization has been extensively studied in mathematics since Cantor’s work in the late nineteenth century. One can use this formalization to develop a useful benchmark. There are various communities within information systems engineering (ISE) that are gradually working toward a formalization of the classification pattern. However, for most of these communities, this work is incomplete, in that they have not yet arrived at a solution with the expressiveness of the powerset benchmark. This contrasts with the early smooth adoption of powerset by other information systems communities to, for example, formalize relations. One way of understanding the varying rates of adoption is recognizing that the different communities have different historical baggage. Many conceptual modeling communities emerged from work done on database design, and this creates hurdles to the adoption of the high level of expressiveness of powersets. Another relevant factor is that these communities also often feel, particularly in the case of domain modeling, a responsibility to explain the semantics of whatever formal structures they adopt. This paper aims to make sense of the formalization of the classification pattern in ISE and surveys its history through the literature, starting from the relevant theoretical works of the mathematical literature and gradually shifting focus to the ISE literature. The literature survey follows the evolution of ISE’s understanding of how to formalize the classification pattern. The various proposals are assessed using the classical example of classification; the Linnaean taxonomy formalized using powersets as a benchmark for formal expressiveness. The broad conclusion of the survey is that (1) the ISE community is currently in the early stages of the process of understanding how to formalize the classification pattern, particularly in the requirements for expressiveness exemplified by powersets, and (2) that there is an opportunity to intervene and speed up the process of adoption by clarifying this expressiveness. Given the central place that the classification pattern has in domain modeling, this intervention has the potential to lead to significant improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models are a universal instrument in science, technology, and daily life. They function as instruments in almost every scenario. Any human activity can be (and is) supported by models, e.g. reason, explain, design, act, predict, explore, communicate, collaborate, interact, orient, direct, guide, socialises, perceive, reflect, develop, making sense, teach, learn, imagine, etc. This universal suitability is also the basis for a wide use of models and modelling in Computer Science and Engineering. We claim that models form the fourth dimension in Computer Science. This paper sketches and systematises the main ingredients of the study model and modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domain-specific languages (DSLs) are used for improving many facets of software development, but whether and to what extent this aim is achieved is an important issue that must be addressed. This paper presents a proposal for a Framework for Qualitative Assessment of DSLs (FQAD). FQAD is used for determining the perspective of the evaluator, understanding the goal of the assessment and selecting fundamental DSL quality characteristics to guide the evaluator in the process. This framework adapts and integrates the ISO/IEC 25010:2011 standard, CMMI maturity level evaluation approach and the scaling approach used in DESMET into a perspective-based assessment. A detailed list of domain-specific language quality characteristics is elaborated, and a novel assessment method is proposed. Two case studies through which FQAD is matured and evaluated are reported. The case studies have shown that stakeholders find the FQAD process beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a controlled experiment for the empirical evaluation of example-driven modeling (EDM), an approach that systematically uses examples for model comprehension and domain knowledge transfer. We conducted the experiment with 26 graduate (Masters and Ph.D. level) and undergraduate (Bachelor level) students from electrical and computer engineering, computer science, and software engineering programs at the University of Waterloo. The experiment involves a domain model, with UML class diagrams representing the domain abstractions and UML object diagrams representing examples of using these abstractions. The goal is to provide empirical evidence of the effects of suitable examples on model comprehension, compared to having model abstractions only, by having the participants perform model comprehension tasks. Our results show that EDM is superior to having model abstractions only, with an improvement of 39% for diagram completeness, 33% for questions completeness, 71% for efficiency, and a reduction in the number of mistakes by 80%. We provide qualitative results showing that participants receiving model abstractions augmented with examples experienced lower perceived difficulty in performing the comprehension tasks, higher perceived confidence in their tasks' solutions, and asked 90% fewer clarifying domain questions. We also present participants' feedback regarding the usefulness of the provided examples, their number and types, as well as the use of partial examples. We present a taxonomy of the different types of examples, explain their significance, and propose guidelines for manual and automatic creation of useful examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensive use of models in model-driven engineering (MDE) raises the need to develop meta-models with different aims, such as the construction of textual and visual modelling languages and the specification of source and target ends of model-to-model transformations. While domain experts have the knowledge about the concepts of the domain, they usually lack the skills to build meta-models. Moreover, meta-models typically need to be tailored according to their future usage and specific implementation platform, which demands knowledge available only to engineers with great expertise in specific MDE platforms. These issues hinder a wider adoption of MDE both by domain experts and software engineers. In order to alleviate this situation, we propose an interactive, iterative approach to meta-model construction, enabling the specification of example model fragments by domain experts, with the possibility of using informal drawing tools like Dia or yED. These fragments can be annotated with hints about the intention or needs for certain elements. A meta-model is then automatically induced, which can be refactored in an interactive way, and then compiled into an implementation meta-model using profiles and patterns for different platforms and purposes. Our approach includes the use of a virtual assistant, which provides suggestions for improving the meta-model based on well-known refactorings, and a validation mode, enabling the validation of the meta-model by means of examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]