Abstract
UML-B is a UML-like diagrammatic front end for the Event-B formal modelling language. We have been developing UML-B for over 20 years and it has gone through several iterations, each with significant changes of approach. The first version was an adaptation of a UML tool, the second generated a complete Event-B project, the third contributed parts of an Event-B model, and the fourth (currently under development) provides a human usable text persistence. Here we outline the reasons for these different developments and summarise the lessons learnt.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abrial, J.-R.: The B Book - Assigning Programs to Meanings. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1996)
Abrial, J.-R.: Modeling in Event-B: System and Software Engineering. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2010)
Abrial, J.-R., Butler, M., Hallerstede, S., Hoang, T.S., Mehta, F., Voisin, L.: Rodin: an open toolset for modelling and reasoning in Event-B. Softw. Tools Technol. Transf. 12(6), 447–466 (2010)
B-Core(UK). B-Toolkit User’s Manual, Release 3.2. Oxford, UK (1996)
Blackwell, A., Green, T.: Chapter 5 - notational systems-the cognitive dimensions of notations framework. In: Carroll, J.M. (ed.) HCI Models. Theories, and Frameworks, Interactive Technologies, pp. 103–133. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (2003)
Eysholdt, M., Behrens, H.: Xtext: implement your language faster than the quick and dirty way. In: OOPSLA, pp. 307–309. ACM (2010)
The Eclipse Foundation. The Eclipse Project Website (2009). http://www.eclipse.org. Accessed Sept 2022
Gamma, E., Beck, K.: Contributing to Eclipse: Principles, Patterns, and Plugins. Addison Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc, Redwood City (2003)
Hoang, T.S., Dghaym, D.: Event-B and Rodin Documentation Wiki: CamilleX (2018). http://wiki.event-b.org/index.php/CamilleX. Accessed Sept. 2022
Hoang, T.S., Snook, C., Dghaym, D., Salehi Fathabadi, A., Butler, M.: Building an extensible textual framework for the rodin platform. In: F-IDE 2022, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (to be published) (2022)
Morris, K., Snook, C., Hoang, T.S., Hulette, G., Armstrong, R., Butler, M.: Formal verification and validation of run-to-completion style state charts using event-b. In: Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering (2022)
The University of Southampton. The UML-B website (2021). https://uml-b.org/ Accessed Sept 2022
The Deploy Project. The deploy project website (2008). http://www.deploy-project.eu/. Accessed Sept. 2022
The Graphical Modelling Project. The GMP project website (2010). https://www.eclipse.org/modeling/gmp/. Accessed Sept 2022
The Rodin Project. Rigorous open development environment for complex systems (2004). http://rodin.cs.ncl.ac.uk/. Accessed Sept 2022
The XText Project. The XText project website (2020). https://www.eclipse.org/Xtext/. Accessed Sept 2022
Razali, R., Snook, C., Poppleton, M., Garratt, P.: Usability assessment of a UML-based formal modeling method using a cognitive dimensions framework. Hum. Technol. 4(1), 26–46 (2008)
Rumbaugh, J., Jacobson, I., Booch, G.: The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1998)
Said, M.Y., Butler, M., Snook, C.: Language and tool support for class and state machine refinement in UML-B. In: Cavalcanti, A., Dams, D.R. (eds.) FM 2009. LNCS, vol. 5850, pp. 579–595. Springer, Heidelberg (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05089-3_37
Snook, C., Butler, M.: UML-B: formal modelling and design aided by UML. ACM Trans. Softw. Eng. Methodol. 15(1), 92–122 (2006)
Snook, C., Fritz, F., Iliasov, A.: Event-B and Rodin Documentation Wiki: EMF Framework for Event-B (2009). http://wiki.event-b.org/index.php/EMF_framework_for_Event-B. Accessed Sept 2022
Snook, C., Harrison, R.: Practitioners’ views on the use of formal methods: an industrial survey by structured interview. Inf. Softw. Technol. 43(4), 275–283 (2001)
Snook, C., Harrison, R.: Experimental comparison of the comprehensibility of a z specification and its implementation in java. Inf. Softw. Technol. 46(14), 955–971 (2004)
Steinberg, D., Budinsky, F., Paternostro, M., Merks, E.: Eclipse Modeling Framework: The Eclipse Series, 2 edn. Addison-Wesley Professional, Reading (2008)
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the HiClass project (113213), which is part of the ATI Programme, a joint Government and industry investment to maintain and grow the UK’s competitive position in civil aerospace design and manufacture.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Snook, C., Butler, M., Hoang, T.S., Fathabadi, A.S., Dghaym, D. (2023). Developing the UML-B Modelling Tools. In: Masci, P., Bernardeschi, C., Graziani, P., Koddenbrock, M., Palmieri, M. (eds) Software Engineering and Formal Methods. SEFM 2022 Collocated Workshops. SEFM 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13765. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26236-4_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26236-4_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-26235-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-26236-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)