Domain-specific Visual Language Research Articles

Towards the Composition of Services by End-Users

Nowadays, we live surrounded by heterogeneous and distributed services that are available to people anytime and anywhere. Even though these services can be used individually, it is through their synchronized and combined usage that end-users are provided with added value. However, existing solutions to service composition are not targeted at ordinary end-users. In fact, these solutions require technical knowledge to deal with the technological heterogeneity in which they are offered to the market. To this end, the paper presents a tool-supported platform that is aided by: (1) EUCalipTool, an end-user mobile tool that implements a Domain Specific Visual Language, which has been specifically designed to compose services on mobile devices; (2) a Faceted Service Registry, which plays the role of gateway between service implementations and end-users, hiding technological issues from the latter when including services in a composition; and (3) a Generation Module, which transforms end-user descriptions into BPMN specification that are interpreted by an execution infrastructure developed for that purpose.

Towards a Classification to Facilitate the Design of Domain-Specific Visual Languages

Domain-specific visual languages (DSVLs) are specialized modeling languages that allow the effective management of the behavior and the structure of software programs and systems in a specific domain. Each DSVL has its specific structural and graphical characteristics depending on the problem domain. In the recent decade, a wide range of tools and methodologies have been introduced to support the design of DSVLs for various domains, therefore it can be a challenging task to choose the most appropriate technique for the design process. Our research aims to present a classification to guide the identification of the most relevant and appropriate methodologies in the given scenario. The classification is capable enough to provide a clear and precise understanding of the main aspects that can facilitate the design of DSVLs.

Supporting multi-view development for mobile applications

Abstract Interest in mobile application development has significantly increased. The need for rapid, iterative development coupled with the diversity of platforms, technologies and frameworks impacts on the productivity of developers. In this paper we propose a new approach and tool support, Rapid APPlication Tool (RAPPT), that enables rapid development of mobile applications. It employs Domain Specific Visual Languages and Modeling techniques to help developers define the characteristics of their applications using high level visual notations. Our approach also provides multiple views of the application to help developers have a better understanding of the different aspects of their application. Our user evaluation of RAPPT demonstrates positive feedback ranging from expert to novice developers.

New Approach for Conversational Agent Definition by Non-Programmers: A Visual Domain-Specific Language

Intelligent tutors and conversational agents (CAs) have proven to be useful learning tools. They have potential not only as stand-alone devices but also as integrable components to enrich and complement other educational resources. For this, new authoring approaches and platforms are required. They should be accessible to non-programmers (such as most teachers) and they should be integrable into current web-based educational platforms. This paper proposes a new approach to define such agents through a visual domain-specific language based on Google Blockly (a scratch-like language). It also develops a web-based integrable authoring platform to serve as a prototype, describing the requirements and architecture. To evaluate whether this novel approach is effective, a multi-stage experiment was conducted. First, participants learned to use the prototype authoring platform through an interactive tutorial. Second, they created a CA with a specific domain model. Times and performance were measured. Finally, they answered a standardized usability questionnaire (UMUX) and a purpose-specific survey. Results show that participants were able to learn to use the domain-specific language in a short time. Moreover, the purpose-specific survey indicates that their perception of the approach (and its potential) is positive. The standardized questionnaire indicates that even in its prototype stage, its usability is satisfactory.

A mobile-based solution for supporting end-users in the composition of services

Currently, technologies and applications evolve to create eco-systems made up of a myriad of heterogeneous and distributed services that are accessible anytime and anywhere. Even though these services can be used individually, it is their coordinated and combined usage what provide an added value to end-users. In addition, user’s wide adoption of mobile devices for daily activities have fostered a shift in the role played by end-users towards Internet data and services. However, existing solutions to service composition are not targeted to ordinary end-users. More easy-to-use tools have to be offered to end-users to make sure that they are successfully accepted and used by them. To this end, the work presented in this paper supports end-users in the creation of service compositions by using mobile devices. We present a Domain Specific Visual Language (DSVL) for end-users that allows them to create service compositions. A tool specifically designed for mobile devices supports this DSVL.

ESOTAG: E-book evolution using collaborative social tagging by readers

Rapid development of smart devices has lead people to be able to read books through their devices anytime and anywhere. Even though its popularity, e-books have ingrained disadvantages such as: (1) It does not have an expandable scheme that allows readers to add multimedia contents or their emotional expressions to books. (2) It is not easy to add multimedia resources as an author. (3) Due to the variety of resolutions on devices, the current ebook format tends to be uncomfortable for readers. The user constantly has to zoom in by pinching the screen when reading on a small device. (4) It is not easy to navigate contents within an e-book because of the absence of an e-book linking feature. To tackle the above mentioned problems, we design and use an external domain-specific language (DSL) within our research. We propose a collaborative social tagging framework for e-books. The goals of this paper are (1) to define a model of an evolvable social resources taggable book (modeling of collaborative e-book), (2) to make readers read rich content e-book easily regardless of their type of devices as well as screen size. (Responsiveness), and (3) to provide e-book resources with the Representational State Transfer (RESTful) address style by which other systems can identify the self-descriptive resources of an e-books (interoperability). The experimental results show that e-book featured social tagging makes readers more interested in reading e-books rather than plain e-books. Further work includes user experience (UX) improvement, and a visual DSL approach with which the authors could write books easier.

Технология создания семейства приложений на основе анализа предметной области

The theme of code reuse in software development is still important. Sometimes it is hard to find out what exactly we need to reuse in isolation of context. However, there is an opportunity to narrow the context problem, if applications in one given domain are considered. Same features in different applications in one domain have the same context respectively so the common part must be reused. Hence, the problem of domain analysis arises. On the other hand, there is metaCASE-techonology that allows to generate code of an application using diagrams, which describe this application. The main objective of this article is to present the technology for application family creation which connects the metaCASE-techonology and results of domain analysis activity. We propose to use some ideas of FODA (feature-oriented domain analysis) approach for domain analysis and use feature diagrams for describing of variability in a domain. Then we suggest to generate metamodel of the domain-specific visual language, based on feature diagram. After that based on generated metamodel domain-specific visual language editor is generated with the aid of metaCASE-tool. With this language user can connect and configure existing feature implementations thus producing an application. This technology supposed to be especially useful for software product lines.

Образовательный визуальный потоковый язык для программирования роботов

Visual domain-specific languages usually have low entry barrier. Sometimes even children can program on such languages by working with visual representations. This is widely used in educational robotics domain, where most commonly used programming environments are visual. The paper describes a novel dataflow visual programming environment for embedded robotic platforms. Obviously, complex dataflow languages are not simple for understanding. The purpose of our tool is to "bridge" between lightweight educational robotic programming tools (commonly these tools provide languages which are based on control flow model) and complex industrial tools (which provide languages based on more complex dataflow execution model). We compare programming environments mostly used by robotics community with our tool. After brief review of behavioural robotic architectures, some thoughts on expressing them in terms of our dataflow language are given. Visual language, which is described here, provides opportunity to mix dataflow and control flow models for robotics programming. We believe that it is important for educational purposes. Program on our language consists of different blocks (visual representation of data transformation processes) and "links" which presents data flow between them. Domain-specific modelling approach was used to develop our language. Also, this paper provides the examples of solving two typical robot control tasks in our language.

Language and Toolset for Visual Construction of Programs for Intelligent Autonomous Spacecraft Control

The paper describes approach to Autonomous Fault Tolerant Intelligent Control of Spacecraft based on usage of Onboard Real-Time Interpreter of Integrated Control Programs, including special Diagnostic Routine. Rules of the Autonomous Control Program could be added or refined from Earth in operative manner by radio channel. Specially designed Visual Domain Specific Language allowing Control Logic Designers check, analyze and construct Rules in user friendly graphical environment excluding necessity to involve Software Developers. Proposed approach allows reducing of costs and labor consuming of Space Mission because of reducing of efforts needed for common-style Flight Control Software coding, multi-stage testing and support. Special Software Engineering Toolset that including Visualizer and Graphical Constructor of these autonomous control programs presented as well as the principles of its design and development. The Prototype of the Toolset has been successfully introduced at JSC Information Satellite Systems, Krasnoyarsk Region, Russia.

A domain-specific visual language for modeling metacognition in intelligent systems

Abstract Metacognition has been used in artificial intelligence to increase the level of autonomy of intelligent systems. However the design of systems with metacognitive capabilities is a difficult task due to the number and complexity of processes involved. This paper presents a domain-specific visual language specifically developed for modeling metacognition in intelligent systems called M++. In M++ the specifications of the cognitive level (object-level) and metacognitive level (meta-level) are supported in a metamodel configured according to the standard Meta-Object Facility (MOF) of Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) methodology. M++ allows the generation of metacognitive diagrams in a visual editor named MetaThink . A validation process was conducted to ensure the reliability of M++ in terms of quality of the notation and consistency of generated models. The validation was performed using two techniques: (i) empirical study and (ii) model tracing. The results given in the experimental study demonstrate that M++ is a useful notation for the process of modeling metacognitive components in intelligent systems. Metacognitive models generated from the validation process using the Tracing technique were consistent with the MOF-based metamodel. M++ contribute to cognitive architecture research adding precision to metacognitive concepts and enabling cognitive architecture researchers to do fast and exploratory prototyping of metacognitive systems using MetaThink tool.

A reactive extension of the OpenMusic visual programming language

Objectives: OpenMusic (OM) is a domain-specific visual programming language designed for computer-aided music composition. This language based on Common Lisp allows composers to develop functional processes generating or transforming musical data, and to execute them locally by demand-driven evaluations. As most historical computer-aided composition environments, OM relies on a transformational declarative paradigm, which is hard to conciliate with reactive data-flow (an evaluation scheme more adequate to the development of interactive systems). We propose to link these two evaluation paradigms in the same and consistent visual programming framework.Methods: We establish a denotational semantics of the visual language, which gives account for its demand-driven evaluation mechanism and the incremental construction of programs. We then extend this semantics to enable reactive computations in the functional graphs.Results: The resulting language merges data-driven executions with the existing demand-driven mechanism. A conservative implementation is proposed.Conclusions: We show that the incremental construction of programs and their data-driven and demand-driven evaluations can be smoothly integrated in the visual programming workflow. This integration allows for the propagation of changes in the programs, and the evaluation of graphically designed functional expressions as a response to external events, a first step in bridging the gap between computer-assisted composition environments and real-time musical systems.

An End-User Oriented Visual Programming Language

With the promotion of IT applications and the rise of Web 2.0, mass users' individual requirements continue to emerge. How to quickly meet increasing development and maintenance requirements has been a critical problem of software development. Is it possible for end-users to develop software This paper chooses Web information systems as the research field, studies the end-user programming technology, and designs an end-user oriented visual domain-specific language VUDSL for university Web information systems. VUDSL programming tools are also implemented, to support end-users without the knowledge of software engineering to develop target information systems by visual programming.

Generating Domain-Specific Visual Language Tools from Abstract Visual Specifications

Domain-specific visual languages support high-level modeling for a wide range of application domains. However, building tools to support such languages is very challenging. We describe a set of key conceptual requirements for such tools and our approach to addressing these requirements, a set of visual language-based metatools. These support definition of metamodels, visual notations, views, modeling behaviors, design critics, and model transformations and provide a platform to realize target visual modeling tools. Extensions support collaborative work, human-centric tool interaction, and multiplatform deployment. We illustrate application of the metatoolset on tools developed with our approach. We describe tool developer and cognitive evaluations of our platform and our exemplar tools, and summarize key future research directions.

Domain-specific discrete event modelling and simulation using graph transformation

Graph transformation is being increasingly used to express the semantics of domain-specific visual languages since its graphical nature makes rules intuitive. However, many application domains require an explicit handling of time to accurately represent the behaviour of a real system and to obtain useful simulation metrics to measure throughputs, utilization times and average delays. Inspired by the vast knowledge and experience accumulated by the discrete event simulation community, we propose a novel way of adding explicit time to graph transformation rules. In particular, we take the event scheduling discrete simulation world view and provide rules with the ability to schedule the occurrence of other rules in the future. Hence, our work combines standard, efficient techniques for discrete event simulation (based on the handling of a future event set) and the intuitive, visual nature of graph transformation. Moreover, we show how our formalism can be used to give semantics to other timed approaches and provide an implementation on top of the rewriting logic system Maude.

A New Method to Cable Performance Assessment

This paper presents a new approach to thermal field sensitivities and ampacity computations of underground power cables using a proposed algorithm of perturbed finite-element analysis. Domain-specific visual language tools have become important in many domains of software engineering and end user development. Numerical results show that the most significant randomness comes from thermal loads and also that the amount of uncertainty decreases from input to output. We will show that the object-oriented programming greatly simplifies the choice and the implementation of other formalisms concerning polyarticulated systems, thus conferring high flexibility and adaptability to the developed software.Such experimental verification confirmed the accuracy of the new introduced finite-element sensitivity methodology.

A New Method to Cable Performance Assessment

This paper presents a new approach to thermal field sensitivities and ampacity computations of underground power cables using a proposed algorithm of perturbed finite-element analysis. Domain-specific visual language tools have become important in many domains of software engineering and end user development. Numerical results show that the most significant randomness comes from thermal loads and also that the amount of uncertainty decreases from input to output. We will show that the object-oriented programming greatly simplifies the choice and the implementation of other formalisms concerning polyarticulated systems, thus conferring high flexibility and adaptability to the developed software.Such experimental verification confirmed the accuracy of the new introduced finite-element sensitivity methodology.

Generating Collaborative Systems for Digital Libraries: a Model-Driven Approach

The design and development of a digital library involves different stakeholders, such as: information architects, librarians, and domain experts, who need to agree on a common language to describe, discuss, and negotiate the services the library has to offer. To this end, high-level, language-neutral models have to be devised. Metamodeling techniques favor the definition of domainspecific visual languages through which stakeholders can share their views and directly manipulate representations of the domain entities. This paper describes CRADLE (Cooperative-Relational Approach to Digital Library Environments), a metamodel-based framework and visual language for the definition of notions and services related to the development of digital libraries. A collection of tools allows the automatic generation of several services, defined with the CRADLE visual language, and of the graphical user interfaces providing access to them for the final user. The effectiveness of the approach is illustrated by presenting digital libraries generated with CRADLE, while the CRADLE environment has been evaluated by using the cognitive dimensions framework.

Augmenting DSVL Meta-Tools with Pattern Specification, Instantiation and Reuse

This paper describes an approach for using patterns in domain-specific visual language (DSVL) meta-tools. Our approach facilitates DSVL development via high level design-for-reuse and design-by-reuse pattern modelling tools. It provides a simple visual pattern modelling language that is used in parallel with DSVL meta-model specifications for modelling and reusing DSVL structural and behavioural design patterns. It also provides tool support for instantiating and visualising structural patterns, as well as executing behavioural patterns on DSVL model instances.

A UML/OCL framework for the analysis of graph transformation rules

In this paper we present an approach for the analysis of graph transformation rules based on an intermediate OCL representation. We translate different rule semantics into OCL, together with the properties of interest (like rule applicability, conflicts or independence). The intermediate representation serves three purposes: (1) it allows the seamless integration of graph transformation rules with the MOF and OCL standards, and enables taking the meta-model and its OCL constraints (i.e. well-formedness rules) into account when verifying the correctness of the rules; (2) it permits the interoperability of graph transformation concepts with a number of standards-based model-driven development tools; and (3) it makes available a plethora of OCL tools to actually perform the rule analysis. This approach is especially useful to analyse the operational semantics of Domain Specific Visual Languages. We have automated these ideas by providing designers with tools for the graphical specification and analysis of graph transformation rules, including a back-annotation mechanism that presents the analysis results in terms of the original language notation.

Automating the transformation-based analysis of visual languages

Abstract We present a novel approach for the automatic generation of model-to-model transformations given a description of the operational semantics of the source language in the form of graph transformation rules. The approach is geared to the generation of transformations from Domain-Specific Visual Languages (DSVLs) into semantic domains with an explicit notion of transition, like for example Petri nets. The generated transformation is expressed in the form of operational triple graph grammar rules that transform the static information (initial model) and the dynamics (source rules and their execution control structure). We illustrate these techniques with a DSVL in the domain of production systems, for which we generate a transformation into Petri nets. We also tackle the description of timing aspects in graph transformation rules, and its analysis through their automatic translation into Time Petri nets.