Automated Analysis and Code Generation for Domain-Specific Models

While off-the-shelf, standards-based modeling platforms provide
countless built-in model interpreters (such as code generators of
various sophistication levels in UML environments), current MDE
platforms do not provide built-in interpreters for analysis and code
generation. Instead, they require software engineers to implement
their own model interpreters.

To use an MDE platform to create domain-specific models, software
engineers first specify a metamodel using a metamodel editor.
Metamodel specification consists of instantiating the types available
in the metamodeling language (the metatypes) and defining
their relationships. Each metatype instance captures the type definition
for a domain-specific modeling element.

A metamodel interpreter, which is built into the MDE platform,
uses the metamodel to generate configuration files and/or plug-ins
for the platform’s model editor framework. The model editor framework
uses the configuration files and plug-ins to visually render the
domain-specific model types, manage an internal representation of
the model, and enforce constraints on model well-formedness, according
to the metamodel specification.

With existing MDE platforms, software engineers have to manually
develop a model interpreter, e.g., in order to generate executable
code for a run-time platform. The model interpreter applies
a set of run-time semantics, defined by the software engineer, to the
elements of domain-specific models by defining the consequences
of the use of those elements within the context of the target runtime
platform. The model interpreter outputs a specification or model
that can be directly executed by the target platform.