Linking models and their storage artifacts

Abstract

Many developers working on model-based development projects experience a problem that highlights the need for better model management technologies. If someone wants to adapt an OO class that was generated from a model, the first thing is to locate the “sources” used to generate the class (i.e., the model elements used to produce the class implementation). This turned out to be a surprisingly difficult and timeconsuming task. It is worth shedding some light on why this task typically is difficult if only to remind us that research on software modeling needs to extend its focus to include model management issues if we are to see more widespread adoption of software-modeling approaches. The problem of locating code generation sources can be traced to inadequate support for managing stored representations (artifacts) of models. Models need to be stored in a manner that supports convenient and efficient retrieval of model elements by both humans and software. This is particularly important when a system is modeled using multiple notations or languages; the need to check consistency across the different modeling views in these systems requires efficient model element retrieval mechanisms. Current modeling tools handle different modeling views of a system by integrating them into a single, integrated artifact that is stored in a database, a file or even in CPU storage. This monolithic approach has a number of drawbacks, including: