Interfaces and Metainterfaces for Models and Metamodels

Anders Hessellund, Andrzej Wasowski. Interfaces and Metainterfaces for Models and Metamodels. In Krzysztof Czarnecki, Ileana Ober, Jean-Michel Bruel, Axel Uhl, Markus Völter, editors, Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, 11th International Conference, MoDELS 2008, Toulouse, France, September 28 - October 3, 2008. Proceedings. Volume 5301 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 401-415, Springer, 2008. [doi]

Abstract

Evolution and customization of component-based systems require an explicit understanding of component inter-dependencies. Implicit assumptions, poor documentation and hidden dependencies turn even simple changes into challenges. The problem is exacerbated in XML-intensive projects due to the use of soft references and the lack of information hiding. We address this with dependency tracking interface types for models and metamodels. We provide automatic compatibility checks and a heuristic inference procedure for our interfaces, which allows easy and incremental adoption of our technique even in mature projects. We have implemented a prototype and applied it to two large cases: an enterprise resource planning system and a healthcare information system.