Antonio Garmendia

Pattern-based development of Domain-Specific Modelling Languages

Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) promotes the use of models to conduct all phases of software development in an automated way. Models are frequently defined using Domain- Specific Modelling Languages (DSMLs), which many times need to be developed for the domain at hand. However, while constructing DSMLs is a recurring activity in MDE, there is scarce support for gathering, reusing and enacting knowledge for their design and implementation. This forces the development of every new DSML to start from scratch. To alleviate this problem, we propose the construction of DSMLs and their modelling environments aided by patterns which gather knowledge of specific domains, design alternatives, concrete syntax, dynamic semantics and functionality for the modelling environment. They may have associated services, realized via components. Our approach is supported by a tool that enables the construction of DSMLs through the application of patterns, and synthesizes a graphical modelling environment according to them.

Towards the Extension of a LMS with Social Media Services

The Social Media is a term used to define a wide range of network tools or technologies, which deal with the social aspects of internet as a channel of communication, collaboration and creative expression. This type of environments has been used for educational practices in different areas, competing sometimes with e-learning institutional environments, such as the Learning Management Systems LMS. This paper proposes the extension of a specific LMS, Moodle, through Social Media services. This plugin provide the interaction and collaboration of all users. The main aim of the proposed approach is to enrich the existing educational process provided by this LMS.

Towards Enabling Mobile Domain-specific Modelling

Work supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (TIN2014-52129-R), the R&D programme of the Madrid Region (S2013/ICE-3006), and the EU commission (FP7-ICT-2013-10, #611125).

Towards the Generation of Graphical Modelling Environments Aided by Patterns

Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) promotes the use of models to conduct all phases of software development in an automated way. Such models are described using Domain Specific Modelling Languages (DSMLs). While the definition of DSMLs and their supporting environments are recurring activities in MDE, they are mostly developed ad-hoc from scratch. This paper proposes the use of patterns to describe the abstract and concrete graphical syntax of DSMLs, and to automate the generation of a graphical modelling environment for them.

On the Opportunities of Scalable Modeling Technologies: An Experience Report on Wind Turbines Control Applications Development

Scalability in modeling has many facets, including the ability to build larger models and domain specific languages (DSLs) efficiently. With the aim of tackling some of the most prominent scalability challenges in Model-based Engineering (MBE), the MONDO EU project developed the theoretical foundations and open-source implementation of a platform for scalable modeling and model management. The platform includes facilities for building large DSLs, for splitting large models into sets of smaller interrelated fragments, and enables modelers to construct and refine complex models collaboratively, among other features.

Example-Based Generation of Graphical Modelling Environments

Domain-Specific Languages DSLs present numerous benefits like powerful domain-specific primitives, an intuitive syntax for domain experts, and the possibility of advanced code generation for narrow domains. While a graphical syntax is sometimes desired for a DSL, constructing graphical modelling environments is a costly and highly technical task. This relegates domain experts to play a passive role in their development and hinders a wider adoption of graphical DSLs. Targeting a simpler DSL construction process, we propose an example-based technique for the automatic generation of modelling environments for graphical DSLs. This way, starting from examples of the DSL likely provided by domain experts using drawing tools like yED, our system is able to synthesize a graphical modelling environment that mimics the syntax of the provided examples. This includes a meta-model for the abstract syntax of the DSL, and a graphical concrete syntax supporting spatial relationships like containment or attachment. The system is implemented as an Eclipse plugin, and we demonstrate its usage on a running example in the home networking domain.

An example is worth a thousand words: Creating graphical modelling environments by example

Domain-specific languages (DSLs) are heavily used in model-driven and end-user development approaches. Compared to general-purpose languages, DSLs present numerous benefits like powerful domain-specific primitives, an intuitive syntax for domain experts, and the possibility of advanced code generation for narrow domains. While a graphical syntax is sometimes desired for a DSL, constructing graphical modelling environments is a costly and highly technical task. This relegates domain experts to a rather passive role in their development and hinders a wider adoption of graphical DSLs. Our aim is achieving a simpler DSL construction process where domain experts can contribute actively. For this purpose, we propose an example-based technique for the automatic generation of modelling environments for graphical DSLs. This way, starting from examples of the DSL likely provided by domain experts using drawing tools like yED, our system synthesizes a graphical modelling environment that mimics the syntax of the provided examples. This includes a meta-model for the abstract syntax of the DSL and a graphical concrete syntax supporting spatial relationships like containment and adjacency. Our system, called metaBUP, is implemented as an Eclipse plug-in. In this paper, we demonstrate its usage on a running example in the home networking domain and evaluate its suitability for the construction of graphical modelling environments by means of a user study.

Scalable model exploration for model-driven engineering

Abstract Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) promotes the use of models to conduct all phases of software development in an automated way. However, for complex systems, these models may become large and unwieldy, and hence difficult to process and comprehend. In order to alleviate this situation, we combine model fragmentation strategies – to split models into more manageable chunks – with model abstraction and visualisation mechanisms, able to provide simpler views of the models. In this paper, we describe the underlying methods and techniques, as well as the supporting tools. The feasibility and benefits of our approach are confirmed based on evaluations in the embedded systems, and the reverse engineering domains, where large benefits in terms of visualisation time (speeds up of up to 55 × ), and reduction in memory consumption (reduction of 97%) are obtained.

Domain-Specific Modelling Using Mobile Devices

Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) are languages tailored for a specific application area, like logistics, networking or mobile app design. They capture the main primitives and abstractions within a domain, which permits modelling systems and problems within that domain in a succinct and natural way. DSLs are heavily used in software development paradigms like Model-Driven Engineering, and they are also a means to enable end-users to perform simple programming tasks in particular domains.