A Survey on Text-based Modeling in Model Evolution and Management

Abstract

Model-driven software engineering methodologies like model-driven engineering aim to improve the productivity of software development by using graph-based models as the main artifacts during development, and generating the source code from these models. The models are usually displayed and edited using a graphical notation. However, they can also be described using a textual notation. This has some advantages and disadvantages compared to the graphical approach. For example, while editing the model, we can better focus on the details instead of a broad overview. Similarly to source code, models evolve rapidly during development. Handling and managing the evolution of models is an important task in model-driven methodologies and is an active research area today. However, there exist few research on text-based modeling approaches, compared to graph-based ones. This paper introduces the text-based modeling research field based on existing literature, and presents the state-of-the-art of the field related to model evolution and management. Our goal is to identify challenges and directions for future research in this field. The main topics covered are model differencing and merging, and the synchronization of the textual and graphical notations.