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Epsilon Flock: a model migration language

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Abstract

Model-driven engineering introduces additional challenges for controlling and managing software evolution. Today, tools exist for generating model editors and for managing models with transformation, validation, merging and weaving. There is limited support, however, for model migration—a development activity in which instance models are updated in response to metamodel evolution. In this paper, we propose conservative copy—a style of model transformation that we believe is well-suited to model migration—and Epsilon Flock—a compact model-to-model transformation language tailored for model migration. The proposed structures are evaluated by comparing the conciseness of model migration strategies written in different styles of transformation language, using several examples of evolution taken from UML and the graphical modelling framework.

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Notes

  1. In [37], the term metamodel-matching is used, but we now prefer the term inference.

  2. http://www.eclipsecon.org/2006/Sub.do?id=171

  3. In Listing 3, some of the concrete syntax has been changed in the interest of clarity.

  4. Forum discussion with Tom Morris, lead developer of the ArgoUML tool,http://www.planet-research20.org/ttc2010/index.php?option=com_community&view=groups&task=viewdiscussion&groupid=4&topicid=20&Itemid=150 (registration required).

  5. Note that in and to are reserved words in Flock, and hence backticks are used to refer to the metamodel features in and to on lines 7, 8 and 16 of Listing 7.

  6. http://planet-mde.org/ttc2010/

  7. http://www.eclipse.org/gmt/epsilon

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Acknowledgments

The work in this article was supported by the European Commission via the INESS project, co-funded under the 7th Framework programme (grant #218575).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of York, Deramore Lane, York, YO10 5GH, UK

    Louis M. Rose, Dimitrios S. Kolovos, Richard F. Paige, Fiona A. C. Polack & Simon Poulding

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  1. Louis M. Rose
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  2. Dimitrios S. Kolovos
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  3. Richard F. Paige
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  4. Fiona A. C. Polack
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  5. Simon Poulding
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Correspondence to Louis M. Rose.

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Rose, L.M., Kolovos, D.S., Paige, R.F. et al. Epsilon Flock: a model migration language. Softw Syst Model 13, 735–755 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-012-0296-2

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