Uma Abordagem Dirigida por Modelo para Desenvolvimento de Contratos Inteligentes na Ethereum Virtual Machine

Abstract

A tecnologia blockchain possibilita a implementação de contratos inteligentes que expressam na forma de código as cláusulas de contratos do mundo real de modo a serem executadas sem a necessidade de um intermediário. Nesse contexto, foram introduzidas as aplicações decentralizadas (DApps) que utilizam recursos, como imutabilidade, descentralização, transparência e privacidade. Contudo, o desenvolvimento de DApps é limitado ao escopo de contratos e às especificidades da blockchain. Os desenvolvedores necessitam compreender todo o ambiente inerente à tecnologia, como questões da linguagem de programação dos contratos, questões de segurança e outros. O objetivo deste artigo é definir um metamodelo que facilite tanto para os especialistas do domínio quanto para desenvolvedores a modelagem dos contratos em alto nível. A proposta consiste em um metamodelo que abstraia as questões técnicas inerentes a Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) que permita definir os elementos essenciais que devem ser implementados no contrato final.

Evaluation of a High-Level Metamodel for Developing Smart Contracts on the Ethereum Virtual Machine

“…In [Qasse et al 2021], the authors used IContractML in conjunction with iContractBot for contract modeling using a chatbot. The work [Velasco and Carvalho 2022], in turn, proposed a metamodel for contract development on the EVM. However, in some cases, the quality of these tools has not been evaluated.…”

“…Although these works are not directly related to contract development, they were important as a basis for applying the metamodel evaluation process proposed in this work. This work differs from related works by using a quality evaluation method for metamodels, specifically for the metamodel proposed by [Velasco and Carvalho 2022]. The evaluation method used was MQuaRe, which evaluated the conceptual suitability of the metamodel in relation to the contract development concepts presented in this paper.…”

“…Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) has been considered an alternative approach to making smart contracts safer and more reliable [Chirtoaca et al 2020]. For the EVM, the High-Level Metamodel for Smart Contract (HLM-SC) has been proposed as a metamodel that enables the high-level declaration of elements in a contract, including complex structures, state variables, functions, and similar elements [Velasco 2023] [Velasco andCarvalho 2022]. With HLM-SC, both technical and non-technical developers can create contracts more efficiently, regardless of their previous knowledge in modeling.…”

SCMTool: A Graphical Tool for Smart Contract Modeling

“…SCMTool utilizes the High-Level Metamodel for Smart Contract (HLM-SC), a metamodel that allows for high-level declaration of smart contract elements [Velasco and Carvalho 2022b]. HLM-SC provides a set of components that enable the representation of smart contracts, including state variables, complex data structures, functions, modifiers, events, errors, and a constructor.…”

Challenges and Opportunities in Smart Contract Development on the Ethereum Virtual Machine: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Contract modeling is a recurring concern in the field of contract development. Researchers have highlighted the importance of using software engineering techniques to minimize human errors in contract creation [Velasco and Carvalho 2022, Ait Hsain et al 2021, Chirtoaca et al 2020, Hamdaqa et al 2022, Santiago et al 2021]. Among the software engineering techniques, Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) and Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) stand out, as they allow high-level modeling, enabling the creation of intelligent, secure, and reliable contracts.…”