Context: Claimed benefits of software modelling and Model Driven techniques are improvements in productivity, portability, maintainability and interoperability. However, little effort has been devoted at collecting evidence to evaluate their actual relevance, benefits and usage complications.Goal: The main goals of this paper are: (1) assess the diffusion and relevance of software modelling and MD techniques in the Italian industry, (2) understand the expected and achieved benefits, and (3) identify which problems limit/prevent their diffusion.Method: We conducted an exploratory personal opinion survey with a sample of 155 Italian software professionals by means of a web-based questionnaire on-line from February to April 2011.Results: Software modelling and MD techniques are very relevant in the Italian industry. The adoption of simple modelling brings common benefits (better design support, documentation improvement, better maintenance, and higher software quality), while MD techniques make it easier to achieve: improved standardization, higher productivity, and platform independence. We identified problems, some hindering adoption (too much effort required and limited usefulness) others preventing it (lack of competencies and supporting tools).Conclusions: The relevance represents an important objective motivation for researchers in this area. The relationship between techniques and attainable benefits represents an instrument for practitioners planning the adoption of such techniques. In addition the findings may provide hints for companies and universities.
We propose a precise definition of UML active classes through associated labelled transition systems using the algebraic specification language Casl. We are convinced that the first step to make UML precise is to find an underlying formal model for the systems modelled by UML, and we argue that labelled transition systems are a sensible choice. This modelization will help understanding the UML constructs and will improve their use in practice. One of our aims is, in the future, to use the powerful animation and verification tools available for algebraic specifications with UML specifications. We simplify the problem of the applicability of our semantics by restricting the state machine constructs considered. This restriction does not, however, narrow the UML subset in study because the restricted constructs can be replaced by equivalent combinations of other constructs. Because of some ambiguities in the UML official semantics, we discuss the several options at hand and choose, for each ambiguous case, the semantics that either makes more sense or that allows to simplify the problem the most.
This survey of the workshop series Consistency Problems in UML-based Software Development aims to help readers to find the guidelines of the papers. First, general considerations about consistency and related problems are discussed. Next, the approaches proposed in the workshop papers to handle the problems are categorized and summarized. The last section includes extended abstracts of the papers from the current workshop
We discuss the nature of the semantics of the UML. Contrary to the case of most languages, this task is far from trivial. Indeed, not only the UML notation is complex and its informal description is incomplete and ambiguous, but we also have the UML multiview aspect to take into account. We propose a general schema of the semantics of the UML, where the different kinds of diagrams within a UML model are given individual semantics and then such semantics are composed to get the semantics on the overall model. Moreover, we fill part of such a schema, by using the algebraic language Casl as a metalanguage to describe the semantics of class diagrams, state machines and the complete UML formal systems.
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