Guest editorial to the special issue on “modelling–foundations and applications”

Abstract

With the common goal of producing higher quality systems at lower costs,model-driven engineering (MDE) is becoming an integral part of all areas and disciplines related to Software Engineering. Far from the initial role of (UML) models as mere sketches of the structure of software systems, models have become primary artefacts in most software engineering activities, ranging from specification and design to analysis and synthesis of applications, including also deployment, testing, and maintenance of software systems. In addition to models, MDE elements such as domain-specific languages, model transformations, and metamodelling are now part of any MDE practitioner’s toolkit, indispensable for leveraging the potential advantages that MDE brings to the software industry. Although significant advances have happened around MDE during the past 10years, the ever-increasing complexity and cost of developing new kinds of applications, together with the stronger requirements on the systems being developed, impose new challenges on the discipline as well as open areas for dedicated research. With the goal of advancing in the field ofMDE, the “European Conference on Modelling: Foundations and Applications” (ECMFA) started in 2005, first as the “European Conference on Model Driven Architecture—Foundations and Applications” (EC-MDA) and since 2010 using its current name and acronym. ECMFA has become the premier Euro-