Modelling and Simulation Based Design
Winter Term 2006 COMP 762B (CRN 4573))

• Lecturer: Prof. Hans Vangheluwe
• Office hours: McConnell 328, Monday 16:00 - 18:00 or by appointment.
• TA: Ernesto Posse, office hours by appointment.
• Course venue: McConnell 320, Monday and Wednesday 11:30 - 13:00.
• Prerequisites: COMP 522 " Modelling and Simulation".

  For those who have not taken this course, a test will be given on some of the COMP 522 subjects (Petri Nets, DEVS and Statecharts). Notes will be made available upon request.

• The 2006 Incarnation of this course is similar to the 2005 version.
  Have a look at the 2005 website.

The course

Goals

The purpose of this course is to look at the State of The Art in Modelling and Simulation on the one hand and Software (and to a far lesser extent Hardware) Design on the other hand. The goal is to get some insight into the Model Based Development (MDD) of truly complex systems. In particular, we will look into the recent trend towards Domain-Specific Modelling (DSM). The focus will be on the use of multiple modelling formalisms and their interrelationships to study and design such complex systems. We will study meta-modelling and model transformation (mostly using Graph Rewriting) extensively as they enable the development of MDD tools. In the software realm, we will study the recent evolutions of the Unified Modelling Language (UML) and how the UML fits in the broader context of computer-automated multi-paradigm modelling and simulation (CAMPaM).

Method and Evaluation

The course will study research publications in the literature. You should be capable of independent, critical reading. Students will be expected to give (at least) two presentations, and to evaluate the other presentations.
The presentations should be prepared in an electronic form that can be used to create an online resource. The first presentation reviews work from the literature. The second presentation presents the result of a small research project which builds on the material you have studied.
You will be evaluated on your presentation, your presentation evaluations (how well you understood other presentations), and your project.

You will also be graded on your work during in-class tutorials (building for example a small modelling environment using meta-modelling and graph rewriting).

Warning: you will have to learn Python on your own and use the AToM³ meta-modelling tool.

Announcements

Thursday 2 March at 13:00 (Trottier Labs). Hands-on development of Operational Semantics of the Timed Traffic formalism.

Thursday 9 February at 13:00 (Trottier Labs). Hands-on development of Abstract and Concrete Syntax of the Timed Traffic formalism.

Presentations

Presentation evaluation form [pdf] [txt] (please submit via e-mail no later than one day after the presentation).

Resources

Modelling Languages, Formalisms, Syntax, Semantics, ...

• David Harel, Bernhard Rumpe. Meaningful Modeling: What's the Semantics of "Semantics"?, Computer, vol. 37, no. 10, pp. 64-72, October, 2004. [pdf].
• David Harel, Bernhard Rumpe. Syntax, Semantics, and all that stuff.

Meta-modelling and Mega-modelling

• Juha-Pekka Tolvanen's course on Metamodeling and Method Engineering.
• Greg Nordstrom. Metamodeling – Rapid Design and Evolution of Domain-Specific Modeling Environments. Ph.D. dissertation at Vanderbilt University [pdf].
• Jean-Marie Favre. Megamodelling and Etymology. Proceedings of Dagstuhl Seminar 05161 - Transformation Techniques in Software Engineering. 2006.
• Thomas Kühne. Matters of (Meta-) Modeling. Software and Systems Modelins (SoSyM). pp 1- 17. Online First. 2006.
• Colin Atkinson and Thomas Kühne. Rearchitecting the UML infrastructure [pdf]. ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS). Volume 12, Issue 4. pp 290 - 321. October 2002.
• Daniel Varro and Andras Pataricza. VPM: A visual, precise and multilevel metamodeling framework for describing mathematical domains and UML (The Mathematics of Metamodeling is Metamodeling Mathematics) [pdf]. Software and Systems Modeling. Volume 2, No. 3 pp. 187 - 210. October 2003.
• www.metamodel.com

Domain-Specific Modelling (DSM)

• Wikipedia on DSM.
• Juha-Pekka Tolvanen's article on DevX.com. Domain-specific Modeling: Welcome to the Next Generation of Software Modeling.
• Domain-Specific Modeling Forum.
• Steven Kelly. Comparison of Eclipse EMF/GEF and MetaEdit+ for DSM [pdf]. OOPSLA & GPCE Workshop Best Practices for Model Driven Software Development. OOPSLA 2004.

Model Transformation, Graph Transformation

• K. Czarnecki and S. Helsen. Classification of model transformation approaches. In J. Bettin, G. van Emde Boas, A. Agrawal, E. Willink, and J. Bezivin, editors, Second Workshop on Generative Techniques in the context of Model Driven Architecture, October 2003. [pdf].
• L. Baresi and R. Heckel, Tutorial Introduction to Graph Transformation: A Software Engineering Perspective. In Corradini, A.,H. Ehrig, H.-J. Kreowski und G. Rozenberg (Editors): Proc. 1st Int. Conference on Graph Transformation (ICGT 02), Barcelona, Spain, Volume 2505 of Lecture Notes in Comp. Science. Springer-Verlag, Oktober 2002. [ps].
• L. Baresi and R. Heckel, Foundations and Applications of Graph Transformation: An introduction from a software engineering perspective. [presentation (pdf)].
• D. Blostein, H. Fahmy and A. Grbavec, Practical Use of Graph Rewriting [pdf].
• Handbook on Graph Grammars and Computing by Graph Transformation:
  1. Volume 1. Foundations. G Rozenberg, editor. 1997.
  2. Volume 2. Applications, Languages and Tools. H Ehrig, G Engels, H J Kreowski, editors. 1999.
  3. Volume 3. Concurrency, Parallelism, and Distribution. H Ehrig, H J Kreowski, U Montanari, editors. 1999.
  World Scientific Publishing.

Concrete Syntax: Visual Languages

• G. Costagliola, A. Delucia, S. Orefice and G. Polese, A Classification Framework to Support the Design of Visual Languages, Journal of Visual Languages & Computing, Volume 13, Issue 6, , December 2002, Pages 573-600.
• Mark Minas and Berthold Hoffmann, Specifying and Implementing Visual Process Modeling Languages with DiaGen, Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, Volume 44, Issue 4, UNIGRA 2001, Uniform Approaches to Graphical Process Specification Techniques (a Satellite Event of ETAPS 2001), July 2001, Pages 1-13.

Multi-Paradigm Modelling

• Hans L. Vangheluwe, Juan de Lara, and Ghislain C. Vansteenkiste. A software architecture for multi-paradigm modelling. 4th Middle East Symposium on Simulation and Modelling. Society for Computer Simulation International, September 2002. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. [keynote presentation (pdf)].
• ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulation (TOMACS). Special Issue on Computer Automated Multi-paradigm Modeling.
• Jonathan Sprinkle's course at UC Berkeley on Model-Integrated Computing.

Meta-modelling and Graph Transformation in AToM³

• AToM³, A Tool for Multi-formalism and Meta-Modelling.
• Juan de Lara and Hans Vangheluwe. AToM³: A tool for multi-formalism and meta-modelling. In European Joint Conference on Theory And Practice of Software (ETAPS, Grenoble, France), Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering (FASE), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2306, pages 174 - 188. Springer-Verlag, April 2002. [pdf]

Formalisms: Statecharts

• David Harel. Statecharts: A Visual Formalism for Complex Systems. Science of Computer Programming. Volume 8. 1987. pp. 231 - 274. [pdf].
• David Harel. On Visual Formalisms. Communications of the ACM. Volume 31, No. 5. 1988. pp. 514 - 530. [pdf].
• David Harel and Amnon Naamad, The STATEMATE semantics of statecharts. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM) Volume 5 , Issue 4 (October 1996) pp.293 - 333. [pdf].
• David Harel and Hillel Kugler, The Rhapsody Semantics of Statecharts (or, On the Executable Core of the UML), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 3147, Jan 2004, Pages 325 - 354. [pdf]. In Integration of Software Specification Techniques for Application in Engineering 2004.
• Michelle L. Crane, Juergen Dingel, UML Vs. Classical Vs. Rhapsody Statecharts: Not All Models Are Created Equal. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 3713, Nov 2005, Page 97 - 112. pdf].
• Jianwei Niu, Joanne M. Atlee, Nancy A. Day, Template Semantics for Model-Based Notations. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. 29, No. 10, October 2003, pp. 866-882. [pdf].
• Bran Selic's presentation (Montreal, 7 March 2003)
  Preview of UML 2.0 and MDA. [pdf] demonstrates the introduction of connectors and ports in UML 2.0 to enhance modularity.
• A report on "Executable UML" (with a chat program example, using UML 2.0 constructs in Telelogic's Tau tool) by Geir Melby of Agder University College. [pdf].
• DCharts introduced in Thomas Feng's M.Sc. thesis: Modelling and Simulation with DCharts, a Modular and Expressive Formalism.
• Michael von der Beeck. A structured operational semantics for UML-statecharts. Software and Systems Modeling. Volume 1, No. 2 pp.130 - 141 . December 2002. [pdf].

From behaviour requirements to execution

• David Harel. Can Behavioral Requirements be Executed ? [ps]. Introduces Play-in/Play-out.
• David Harel and Hillel Kugler. Synthesizing state-based object systems from LSC specifications. International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science, Vol. 13, No.1. 2002. pp. 5-51. World Scientific Publishing Company. [ps].
• David Harel and Rami Marelly. Specifying and Executing Behavioral Requirements: The Play-In/Play-Out Approach [pdf]. Software and Systems Modeling. Volume 2, Number 2. July 2003. pp. 82 - 107.

The Unified Modeling Language UML (and its consistency problems)

• Perdita Stevens. The Unified Modelling Language. ETAPS 2000 tutorial [pdf].
• <<UML 2002>> workshop on Consistency Problems in UML-based Software Development.
• <<UML 2003>> workshop on Consistency Problems in UML-based Software Development.
• Karsten Hoelscher and Bjoern Cordes. UML Interaction Diagrams: Correct translation of Sequence Diagrams into Collaboration Diagrams" thesis. University of Bremen, Department of Computer Science. 2003.

Model Driven Architecture

• The OMG's MDA pages.
• Anneke Kleppe, Jos Warmer, Wim Bast. MDA Explained: The Model Driven Architecture--Practice and Promise. (a high-level introduction). [Amazon].
• Bran Selic's presentation (Montreal, 7 March 2003)
  "Preview of UML 2.0 and MDA". [pdf]
• U2 partners' April 2003 "UML 2.0 Superstructure" [pdf] [xmi] [petal(rose)].
• Mapping a UML Platform Independent Model onto an ASP.NET web application. Presentation (McGill, 9 April 2003) by Michel Brassard from Codagen. [pdf]

Model Based Design of User Interfaces

• Hallvard Trætteberg. Model-based User Interface Design. Ph.D. thesis. Department of Computer and Information Sciences. Faculty of Information Technology, Mathematics and Electrical Engineering. Norwegian University of Science and Technology. 2002. [pdf].
• Jeffrey Nichols, Brad A. Myers, Brandon Rothrock. "UNIFORM: Automatically Generating Consistent Remote Control User Interfaces," In Proceedings of CHI'2006. April 22-26. Montreal, Canada. pp. 611-620. [pdf].
• Karsten Ehrig, Claudia Ermel, Stefan Hansgen, Gabriele Taentzer. Generation of visual editors as eclipse plug-ins. Proceedings of the 20th IEEE/ACM international Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE). Long Beach, CA, USA. 2005. pp. 134 - 143.
  For a slightly more elaborate version of this paper, see Towards Graph Transformation Based Generation of Visual Editors using Eclipse [pdf] by the same authors.

Refactoring

• The refactoring home page.
• The refactoring catalog.

Miscellaneous interesting links

• The Software and Systems Modeling journal.
• student project reports from Agder University College.

Maintained by Hans Vangheluwe. February 2006.