Authors: Dimitris Karagiannis, Srđan Živković
Tags: 2015, conceptual modeling
Modelling language engineering approaches based on metamodelling provide powerful concepts to define metamodels, pivotal constructs for language definition. With increasing popularity of domain-specific, hybrid and evolving modelling languages, the necessity for efficient and flexible metamodelling becomes apparent. Modularisation and composition techniques can reduce effort and improve efficiency and flexibility in metamodel development. Existing metamodelling languages and standards provide means for metamodel modularisation and composition, however based on pure white-box packages and inheritance-like composition operators. In this paper, we propose an approach based on interfaces and interface-based composition operators. Inspired by component-oriented concepts of programming languages, we introduce black-box metamodel fragments with explicit provided and required interfaces that can be combined to systematically and flexibly build new metamodels. We discuss the realisation of our approach as an extension to existing metamodelling language concepts and demonstrate its applicability by modularising the metamodel of the BPMS method, a hybrid BPMN-centred language for enterprise modelling.Read the full paper here: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-19237-6_26
