Mohamed Mancona Kandé

Towards a UML profile for software architecture descriptions

To formally describe architectures of software systems, specific languages called Architecture Description Languages (ADLs) have been developed by academic institutions and research labs. However, more and more research and industrial projects are using the standard Unified Modeling Language (UML) for representing software architectures of systems. In this paper, we focus on how to extend the UML by incorporating some key abstractions found in current ADLs, such as connectors, components and configurations, and how the UML can be used for modeling architectural viewpoints. Our approach is demonstrated by the software architecture of a video surveillance system. It is therefore the purpose of the paper to show that a UML profile for software architecture abstractions is needed.

Bridging the gap between IEEE 1471, an architecture description language, and UML

Abstract.A lot of attention has been paid to software architecture issues in academia, industrial research and standardization organizations working in the software area. The software architecture research community has focused on the creation and improvement of special-purpose languages: architecture description languages (ADLs). However, ADLs lack adequate support for separating various kinds of stakeholders’ concerns along different viewpoints. But also, they do not address the difference between the architecture of a software system and its representations. In contrast, ANSI/IEEE-Std-1471 makes a clear distinction between the architecture and the architectural description of a software system.In this paper, we propose ConcernBASE, a UML-based approach to software architecture, which instantiates the conceptual framework defined in ANSI/IEEE-Std-1471 and complements the abstractions and mechanisms found in current ADLs. ConcernBASE provides a viewpoint for structural descriptions of software architectures that supports key concepts of ADLs and defines a UML profile as a viewpoint language. We validate this profile through a mapping between a representative ADL, called Structural ADL (SADL), and the new profile and by providing a UML-based tool prototype, called ConcernBASE Modeler, which integrates with SADL tools.

Integrating the ConcernBASE Approach with SADL

We describe ConcernBASE, a UML-based approach that is an instantiation of the IEEEs Conceptual Framework (Std 1471) for describing software architectures. We show how the approach supports advanced separation of concerns in software architecture by allowing one to identify and define multiple viewpoints, concern spaces and views of an architecture. Our work focuses on integrating the ConcernBASE approach with the Structural Architecture Description Language (SADL) in order to make the verification capabilities of SADL available to those who develop in UML. The result is a UML profile for structural description of software architecture. The paper also presents a prototype tool that supports this UML profile.

5th international workshop on aspect-oriented modeling

This report summarizes the outcome of the 5th Workshop on Aspect-Oriented Modeling (AOM) held in conjunction with the 7th International Conference on the Unified Modeling Language – UML 2004 – in Lisbon, Portugal. The workshop brought together researchers and practitioners from two communities: aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) and software model engineering. It provided a forum for discussing the state of the art in modeling crosscutting concerns at different stages of the software development process: requirements elicitation and analysis, software architecture, detailed design, and mapping to aspect-oriented programming constructs.. This paper gives an overview of the accepted submissions, and summarizes the results of the different discussion groups.