domain-specific software development terminology: do we all speak the same language? arturo...

Domain-Specific Software Development Terminology: Do We All Speak the Same Language?

Arturo Sánchez-Ruíz, University of North Florida, USAMotoshi Saeki, Tokyo Institute of Technology, JapanBenoît Langlois, Thales-EPM, FranceRoberto Paiano, University of Lecce, Italy

The 7th OOPSLA Workshop on Domain-Specific ModelingOctober 21-22, 2007

The 7th OOPSLA Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling

Sánchez-Ruíz, Saeki, Langlois, Paiano 2

Issue Topic during the 2006 DSM edition:

Identification of a set of DSM “core terms” Final impression: we (researchers and

practitioners) don’t mean the same for the same terms

Issue: What are the DSM core terms? Their definitions (because so connected to

each other)? What is the concept map of those core

terms?



Agenda Methodology Core Terms and Their Definitions Concept Map Conclusions and Future Work



Methodology

Iteration 0: agree upon an initial set of core terms. Domain, Application, Level of Abstraction, Language,

Syntax, Semantics, Model, Meta-Model, Ontology, Domain-Specific Modeling, and Domain-Specific Language.

Iteration 1: each participant creates a document containing a succinct definition for each term.

Iteration 2: try to get to a set of converging definitions and produce a document with them.

Iteration 3: build a concept map showing these core terms and relationships among them.



Software Application A software application is a

component of an approach to solve a problem

Corresponds to a fundamental part of the solution to a problem



Application Domain It is characterized by the relevant

objects (a.k.a. concepts) and their relationships

Relevance is relative to: The problem, The decision of whether or not certain

objects and relationships are relevant



Abstraction and Levels of Abstractions

Abstraction: Concentrating on the “essence” of the domain, ignoring elements that are considered to be superfluous

Iterative process of defining a lattice of layers, each of which is referred to as a level of abstraction



Language, Alphabet, Vocabulary, Syntax, Semantics, and Meta-Language

Language: Purpose: Allowing analysts to

characterize domains, problems within these, and solutions to such problems.

A language is defined by its alphabet, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics.




Alphabet: Set of symbols that are used to build elements in the vocabulary.

Vocabulary: Set of allowed “words”.

Syntax: Set of rules that define all possible “phrases” in the language (i.e. the set of syntactically correct phrases). Built from words in its vocabulary.

Semantics: Set of definitions that establish the “meaning” of all possible syntactically correct phrases in the language.




Meta-Language: Purpose: Language for defining other

languages. For any fixed language, there can be

various meta-languages that are used to define different aspects of such language.

Since meta-languages are languages, they also have the elements associated with any language (e.g. alphabet, vocabulary, etc.)



Model and Meta-Model Domain Modeling:

Process of identifying, documenting, and specifying the objects and their relationships (relevant in the context of a given problem.)

Process result = Domain Model (a.k.a. Application Domain Model.)

A language is needed to define the model. The meta-language that is used to define the

semantics of this language is referred to as a meta-model.

In some cases, the terms “language” and “model” can be used interchangeably if this does not lead to confusion.



Ontology Definition:

Purpose: specification of the knowledge about a domain “An ontology is an explicit specification of a

conceptualization.” (Tom Gruber – complete reference in the paper.)

A more recent definition proposed by Ontolog uses a multi-dimensional characterization of ontologies (see also this page for a definition of the dimensions.)

Hence, it is plausible to equate an ontology with a model of a domain of application.

It is also plausible to equate an ontology with a meta-model associated with a domain of application.



Domain-Specific Modeling (DSM)

Purpose: Process of building a model for a specific domain “Domain-Specific Modeling raises the

level of abstraction beyond programming by specifying the solution directly using domain concepts.” (DSM Forum)

DSM is therefore a specialization of the general concept of modeling



Domain-Specific Language (DSL)Domain-Specific Software Development (DSSD)

End-users utilize DSLs and environments to build solutions to problems in their domain.

Languages + translators + environments generate the code that implements the actual software solution

All of these elements together constitute a Domain-Specific approach to Software Development (DSSD)



Concept Map



Conclusions & Future Work I Exercise initiated during the 2006

OOPSLA Workshop on DSM Goal: Determining if we meant the same

when referring to DSM core terms Result: Definitions + Concept Map

Instructive to frame DSM in the context of DSSD DSSD is seen as an activity which focuses

on specific domains



Conclusions & Future Work II Our exercise suggests to use of “meta-

X” when explicitly/implicitly defining the semantics of X.

The concept map can be extended to create a “live” authoritative source (from our community) for the definition of core terms augmented with examples and other references (hyperlinks).

Anybody interested in this project?



Questions? Thank you for your attention! ¡Gracias por su atención! Merci de votre attention ! Grazie per l'attenzione ! ご静聴ありがとうございました Goseicho Arigatougozaimsita

domain-specific software development terminology: do we all speak the same language? arturo...

Documents

metalanguage language

metalanguage metalanguage

metalanguage alphabet

domainspecific language

fixed language

initial set of core

various metalanguages

set of converging definitions