Transformations using a meta-system approach to software development

Germinal Boloix; Paul G. Sorenson; J. Paul Tremblay

Transformations using a meta-system approach to software development

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Transformations using a meta-system approach to software development

Author(s): Germinal Boloix ; Paul G. Sorenson ; J. Paul Tremblay
DOI: 10.1049/sej.1992.0042

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Author(s): Germinal Boloix ¹ ; Paul G. Sorenson ¹ ; J. Paul Tremblay ²
- Affiliations: 1: Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonston, Canada
  2: Department of Computational Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
Source: Volume 7, Issue 6, November 1992, p. 425 – 437
DOI: 10.1049/sej.1992.0042 , Print ISSN 0268-6961, Online ISSN 2053-910X

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A transformational approach based on a specification environment definition facility is proposed. We illustrate this approach through the development of a set of transformation rules expressed in a transformational language. The rules demonstrate how a formal description of a data-flow diagram in a structured analysis environment can be automatically converted, with possible design intervention, to a formal description of a structure chart in a structured design environment. The formal description of each environment is defined in the entity-aggregate-relationship-attribute (EARA) model, a meta-system model that supports multiple specification environments. To express the transformations between environments, we propose a language based on sets. The power of our approach lies in the adoption of a common formal model for representing source and target specification environments, along with the ability to express formally transformation rules, using the transformational language, between these environments. The details of the model and the rule-based transformation approach are illustrated.

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