Levels of Independence in Aspect-Oriented Modeling

Workshop on Model-driven Approaches to Middleware Applications Development

June 17, 2003

Jeff Gray, Yuehua Lin, Jing Zhanggray (at) cis.uab.edu

http://www.gray-area.org

This research is funded by DARPA/IXO, under the PCES program.

Shameless Plug for CFPs

Workshop on Domain-Specific Visual Languages September 22, 2003 (GPCE Conference - Erfurt, Germany) Papers due:         30 June

http://www.cis.uab.edu/info/GPCE-DSVL3/

3rd OOPSLA Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling(Domain-Driven Development Track) October 26, 2003 (OOPSLA - Anaheim, CA) Papers due:         15 August

http://www.cis.uab.edu/info/OOPSLA2003-DSM

Shameless Plug for CFPs

Aspect-Oriented Modeling Workshop October 20-24, 2003 UML Conference (San Francisco, CA) Papers due:         25 August

http://www.cs.iit.edu/~oaldawud/AOM/index.htm

Types of Transformation & Translation

Horizontal transformation Transformation within the same

representation level of abstraction

e.g., MDA PIM->PSM, model weaving (VEST, C-SAW), code refactoring

Vertical translation Typically, translation, or

synthesis, between layers of abstraction

e.g., MIC interpreters, CASE-tool scripting and reverse engineering, PSM->PSI

ComputePositionC++

ComputePositionwith Locking

C++

NavDisplayC++

Current Focus: Vertical transformation – higher level models transform existing code base (rather than synthesize new code orconfiguration information)

Current Focus: New model weaver (C-SAW) integrated within GME

Multiple Levels

of HierarchyReplicatedStructures

ContextSensitive

Motivating Problem – Crossccuting Constraints in Real-Time/Embedded Models

Base models become constrained to capture a particular design

A

B

c d eB

c d e

F

B

c d e

Changeability???

Crosscutting Constraints

Constraints that are related to some global property are dispersed across the model

“Small changes in requirements entail large changes in the structure and configuration”

[Sussman, 1999] Gerald Jay Sussman, “Robust Design through Diversity,” DARPA Amorphous Computing Workshop, 1999..

Motivation

Problems: Difficult to specify and manage cross-

cutting concerns (e.g., constraints) in model-based systems;

Lack of tool support for automatically weaving constraints into models;

New: Lack of a core weaving engine that is independent of modeling environments.

Previous Work (Solution)

Strategies (C++)

Meta-weaverFramework

Domain-SpecificStrategies

strategy ApplyConstraint(constraintName : string, expression : string)

{

addAtom("OCLConstraint", "Constraint", constraintName).addAttribute("Expression", expression);

}

 

strategy RemoveConstraint(constraintName : string)

ApplyConstraint(constraintName, expression);

}

Domain-specific strategies (encoded in a DSL) are used to instantiate a new model weaver

SpecificationAspects

Domain-specific Models

B

c d e

constraint FOOB2

{

// apply a specific constraint to “B2” only

in Structural models("ProcessingCompound")->

// apply a specific constraint to all nodes beginning with “B” - use wildcard

in Structural models("ProcessingCompound")->

select(p | p.name() == "B*")->PowerStrategy(1, 100);

}

Specification aspects and base model are sent through the weaver

ConstrainedModels

B

c d e1

3

2

The weaver distributes constraints across the base model

Two levels of weaving

WeaponRelease

Sensor

LocDisplay

ComputePosition

Processor#1

Eager Eager

UpdateMap

Eager

LazyLazy

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE project SYSTEM "mga.dtd">

<project guid="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}" cdate="Thu Nov 30 14:15:40 2000" mdate="Thu Nov 30 14:15:40 2000" metaguid="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}" metaname="PCES"><name>bit1</name><comment></comment><author></author><folder id="id-006a-00000001" kind="RootFolder"><name>bit1</name><folder id="id-006a-00000002" kind="Structural"><name>Structural</name><model id="id-0065-00000001" kind="ProcessingCompound"><name>ProcessingCompound</name><attribute kind="Description" status="meta"><value></value></attribute><atom id="id-0066-00000007" kind="Attribute" role="Attrib"><name>GatesPerBit</name><regnode name="PartRegs"><value></value>

</regnode>

AspectCode

Generation

Processor#2

Aspect Model Weaving

Aspect Code Weaving/Program Transformation

Levels of Independence in Model Weaving Domain independence:

GME meta-models and weaver strategies determine domain of discourse

Platform independence: GME interpreters and weaver strategies map to

platform specific synthesis Tool independence (new):

Separation of core weaving engine with tool-specific adapters

Tool Independence

Requires an exposed API for accessing internal model data structures

Tool-specific adapters written for each new supported tool

Cadena

GME

MetaEdit

Rose

Adaptive Core Weaving Engine

Not unlike AspectJ AJDT

JBuilderEclipse

emacs

Netbeans/FORTE

AJDT

More Info

Representative Publications: Comm. of the ACM, October 2001, “Handling Crosscutting

Constraints in Domain-Specific Modeling” GPCE 2003 (forthcoming), “An Approach for Supporting

Aspect-Oriented Domain Modeling” AOSD Book Chapter (forthcoming), “Two-Level Weaving to

Support Evolution of Model-Based Software”

Demo Prepared to give a very brief demo of:

GME Example weaving of processor assignment constraints into an

avionics system model

Demo

Very brief intro to GME Entire course on this, so very superficial demo

Weaving of constraints into GME models I’ll have to talk fast…

Model Integrated Computing (MIC)

Grew out of over 14 years of research on computer-based systems in aerospace, instrumentation, manufacturing and robotics.

Common challenges:

• “Software” and “environment” are inextricablycombined

• Need for adaptability to changing environmentand end-user needs

• Complex, heterogeneous applications• Stringent reliability and dependability requirements

Domain-Specific Modeling at ISIS:Model Integrated Computing The Generic Modeling Environment (GME) is a

domain-specific modeling tool (>20-person years) It can be utilized in many different domains by

providing a meta-level paradigm description Paradigm describes all of the entities of the

domain, as well as valid relationships

Freely available: http://www.isis.vanderbilt.edu

See November 2001 issue of IEEE Computer

DOMAIN-MODEL

Meta-Modeling Framework

META-MODEL Meta-Model of Stateflow using UML/OCL as meta-modeling language.

Model instance of Stateflow

Model Integrated Computing

Environment Evolution

Meta-Level

Translation

Metaprogramming

Interface

Formal Specifications

Model Interpreters

Models

DSME

Model Builder

ModelInterpretation

ApplicationDomain

App.1

App.2

App.3

Application Evolution

GME

MICApplications