Model driven design and aspect weaving

Abstract

A model is a simplified representation of an aspect of the world for a specific purpose. In complex systems, many aspects are to be handled, from architectural aspects to dynamic behavior, functionalities, user-interface, and extrafunctional concerns (such as security, reliability, timeliness, etc.). For software systems, the design process can then be characterized as the weaving of all these aspects into a detailed design model. Model Driven Design aims at automating this weaving process, that is automatically deriving software systems from theirs models. This paper explores the relationship between modeling and aspect weaving. It points out some of the challenges related to such automatic model weaving, illustrating them with the example of a weaving process for behavioral models represented as scenarios.

Specifying and Composing Concerns Expressed in Domain-Specific Modeling Languages

“…First of all, we remove the symmetry from it. Even though, in theory, all concerns are equally important and should play symmetrical role [8,22], an asymmetric approach is more practical. In an asymmetric approach one of the concerns, called a base concern, represents the functional backbone of the system.…”

“…For aspect concerns, the existing approaches typically use a light-weight UML extension with the concepts specific for each approach. Typically most of the current approaches [4,5,6,7,8,9], whether symmetric or not, allow the modularization and composition of concerns in order to obtain a combined view. All these approaches are intraspace compositions in our terminology where all concerns are expressed in a GPML, i.e., UML.…”

“…Most of the current AOM approaches [4,5,6,7,8,9] use UML along with its extension mechanisms for expressing all concerns. However, DSMLs can potentially improve the current AOM methods for specifying concern models since the developer can use an optimal DSML for each of the concerns involved.…”

“…Both concepts are central in the current state-of-the-art AOM approaches [4,5,6,7,8,9]. These approaches provide techniques to decompose a system by separating concerns into modules.…”

Aspectual templates in UML

“…Fixing the parameters allow to obtain an instance model (component), which can then be composed. Second, Aspect-Oriented Modeling (AOM) [9,24,15,29,30], which issues from the application at the model level of the separation of concerns approach and aspect-oriented concepts [17].…”