Markus Look

Engineering delta modeling languages

Delta modeling is a modular, yet flexible approach to capture spatial and temporal variability by explicitly representing the differences between system variants or versions. The conceptual idea of delta modeling is language-independent. But, in order to apply delta modeling for a concrete language, so far, a delta language had to be manually developed on top of the base language leading to a large variety of heterogeneous language concepts. In this paper, we present a process that allows deriving a delta language from the grammar of a given base language. Our approach relies on an automatically generated language extension that can be manually adapted to meet domain-specific needs. We illustrate our approach using delta modeling on a textual variant of statecharts.

Integration of heterogeneous modeling languages via extensible and composable language components

Effective model-driven engineering of complex systems requires to appropriately describe different specific system aspects. To this end, efficient integration of different heterogeneous modeling languages is essential. Modeling language integaration is onerous and requires in-depth conceptual and technical knowledge and effort. Traditional modeling lanugage integration approches require language engineers to compose monolithic language aggregates for a specific task or project. Adapting these aggregates to different contexts requires vast effort and makes these hardly reusable. This contribution presents a method for the engineering of grammar-based language components that can be independently developed, are syntactically composable, and ultimately reusable. To this end, it introduces the concepts of language aggregation, language embedding, and language inheritance, as well as their realization in the language workbench MontiCore. The result is a generalizable, systematic, and efficient syntax-oriented composition of languages that allows the agile employment of modeling languages efficiently tailored for individual software projects.

A comparison of mechanisms for integrating handwritten and generated code for object-oriented programming languages

Code generation from models is a core activity in model-driven development (MDD). For complex systems it is usually impossible to generate the entire software system from models alone. Thus, MDD requires mechanisms for integrating generated and handwritten code. Applying such mechanisms without considering their effects can cause issues in projects with many model and code artifacts, where a sound integration for generated and handwritten code is necessary. We provide an overview of mechanisms for integrating generated and handwritten code for object-oriented languages. In addition to that, we define and apply criteria to compare these mechanisms. The results are intended to help MDD tool developers in choosing an appropriate integration mechanism.

Composition of Heterogeneous Modeling Languages

Model-driven engineering aims at managing the complexity of large software systems by describing their various aspects through dedicated models. This approach requires to employ different modeling languages that are tailored to specific system aspects, yet can be interpreted together to form a coherent description of the total system. Traditionally, implementations of such integrated languages have been monolithic language projects with little modularization and reuse of language parts.

Integration of Handwritten and Generated Object-Oriented Code

In many development projects models are core artifacts used to generate concrete implementations from them. However, for many systems it is impossible or not useful to generate the complete software system from models alone. Hence, developers need mechanisms for integrating generated and handwritten code. Applying such mechanisms without considering their effects can cause issues in projects, where model and code artifacts are essential. Thus, a sound approach for the integration of both forms of code is needed.

Systematic synthesis of delta modeling languages

Delta modeling is a modular, yet flexible approach to capture variability by explicitly representing differences between system variants or versions. The conceptual idea of delta modeling is language-independent. But, to apply delta modeling to a concrete language, either a generic transformation language has to be used or the corresponding delta language has to be manually developed for each considered base language. Generic languages and their tool support often lack readability and specific context condition checking, since they are unrelated to the base language. In this paper, we present a process that allows synthesizing a delta language from the grammar of a given base language. Our method relies on an automatically generated language extension that can be manually adapted to meet domain-specific needs. We illustrate our method using delta modeling on a textual variant of architecture diagrams. Furthermore, we evaluate our method using a comparative case study. This case study covers an architectural, a structural, and a behavioral language and compares the preexisting handwritten grammars to the generated grammars as well as the manually tailored grammars. This paper is an extension of Haber et al. (Proceedings of the 17th international software product line conference (SPLC’13), pp 22–31, 2013).

Energieeffiziente Städte – Herausforderungen und Lösungen aus Sicht des Software Engineerings

Circa 40 % der weltweiten CO2-Emmissionen lassen sich auf Gebaude und deren Betrieb zuruckfuhren, weshalb deren energieeffizienter Betrieb eine wichtige Grose im Kampf gegen den Klimawandel darstellt. Die Beurteilung der Energieeffizienz setzt dabei adaquate Sensorik, gute Spezifikationstechniken fur Zielvorgaben und Moglichkeiten zur aktiven Einflussnahme voraus. Durch die Umsetzung dieser Anforderungen werden moderne Gebaude zu komplexen, cyberphysischen Systemen und durch die zusatzliche Nutzung erneuerbarer Energien steht die Smart City von morgen vor vollig neuen Herausforderungen. Komplexe Erzeuger- und Verbrauchersituationen zwischen einzelnen Gebauden aber auch ganzen Stadtquartieren fuhren zu einer Dezentralisierung des Energiemarktes und zu einem stark vernetzten IT Okosystem. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die Herausforderungen an diese Entwicklungen aus Sicht des Software Engineerings. Der Fokus liegt hierbei auf Konzepten, Methoden und Losungen des Software Engineerings, die es erlauben die komplexen Vernetzungssituationen effizient und mit dem notwendigen Abstraktionsgrad zu beschreiben.