Toward a semantic anchoring infrastructure for domain-specific modeling languages

TLDR

Metamodeling enables rapid, inexpensive development of domain‑specific modeling languages, yet challenges such as the lack of a practical method for formal DSML semantics hinder widespread industrial use and reduce tool reusability. We propose a formal, well‑founded methodology with supporting tools to anchor DSML semantics to precisely defined and validated semantic units. The methodology defines each syntactic and semantic DSML component precisely and completely, using Abstract State Machines to model the semantic domains. Our approach establishes an infrastructure for DSML design that integrates formal methods with practical engineering tools.

Abstract

Metamodeling facilitates the rapid, inexpensive development of domain-specific modeling languages (DSML-s). However, there are still challenges hindering the wide-scale industrial application of model-based design. One of these unsolved problems is the lack of a practical, effective method for the formal specification of DSML semantics. This problem has negative impact on reusability of DSML-s and analysis tools in domain specific tool chains. To address these issues, we propose a formal well founded methodology with supporting tools to anchor the semantics of DSML-s to precisely defined and validated "semantic units". In our methodology, each of the syntactic and semantic DSML components is defined precisely and completely. The main contribution of our approach is that it moves toward an infrastructure for DSML design that integrates formal methods with practical engineering tools. In this paper we use a mathematical model, Abstract State Machines, a common semantic framework to define the semantic domains of DSML-s.