Estimating footprints of model operations

Abstract

When performed on a model, a set of operations (e.g., queries or model transformations) rarely uses all the information present in the model. Unintended underuse of a model can indicate various problems: the model may contain more detail than necessary or the operations may be immature or erroneous. Analyzing the footprints of the operations -i.e., the part of a model actually used by an operation -is a simple technique to diagnose and analyze such problems. However, precisely calculating the footprint of an operation is expensive, because it requires analyzing the operation's execution trace.In this paper, we present an automated technique to estimate the footprint of an operation without executing it. We evaluate our approach by applying it to 75 models and five operations. Our technique provides software engineers with an efficient, yet precise, evaluation of the usage of their models. ABSTRACTWhen performed on a model, a set of operations (e.g., queries or model transformations) rarely uses all the information present in the model. Unintended underuse of a model can indicate various problems: the model may contain more detail than necessary or the operations may be immature or erroneous. Analyzing the footprints of the operationsi.e., the part of a model actually used by an operation -is a simple technique to diagnose and analyze such problems. However, precisely calculating the footprint of an operation is expensive, because it requires analyzing the operation's execution trace.In this paper, we present an automated technique to estimate the footprint of an operation without executing it. We evaluate our approach by applying it to 75 models and five operations. Our technique provides software engineers with an efficient, yet precise, evaluation of the usage of their models.

Using Models of Partial Knowledge to Test Model Transformations

“…The emphasis in this paper is to push towards the development of partial models by analyzing requirements, existing test models [7], the transformation under test [16], or fault locations [12]. We provide a semi-automated tool [25] to support the development of partial models and completing them by automatic solving.…”

“…Several methods exist to derive further testing knowledge. For instance, analyzing a model transformation can reveal locally used classes, properties and possibly some of their values or bounds on values called a footprint [16]. Similarly, analyzing a localized fault via techniques such as dynamic tainting [12] in a model transformation can reveal patterns in the input modelling language that evoked the fault.…”

Efficient model partitioning for distributed model transformations

“…In [16] a technique to estimate the model footprint of an operation is presented. Essentially, a given model is just filtered based on the computed static meta-model footprint.…”

Impact of footprinting on model quality: An experimental evaluation

“…There are two techniques for footprinting: dynamic and static footprinting [2]. Dynamic footprinting analyzes the execution of a set of operations, while static footprinting estimates the footprint based on a static analysis of the definition of the operations.…”

“…Recently, we have invented a technique called footprinting to detect the presence of superfluous elements in models [2]. In a MDE setting, the purpose of a model can be characterized by the set of model operations (e.g., queries, view extractions or model transformations) that the model must enable.…”