Software Model Engineering and Reuse

Speaker: Joern Guy Suess

When: 2:00, Friday, 23 September 2005

Venue: 78-420

Reuse is an important aspect of software engineering that promises advantages like faster time-to-market, cost reduction, better maintainability etc. The software industry focuses on components and commercials of-the-shelf in order to gain reusable assets. However, reuse on the design level is normally not addressed. If we come to perceive models as assets of the software process, then the design moves from the periphery of software engineering to the centre. This implies several advantages, like improved systems overview and insight, because of greater abstraction and easier comprehension of the design concepts.

This talk proposes the concept of software model engineering, which pursues model reuse and service separation in order to shift the focus of system development to the design level. Models expressed in an open available format - independent of a particular modelling tool - facilitate the exchange and reuse of models. As a result, the user community grows and the quality of model artefacts improves, because of frequent use, correction and peer review.

Modelling tools primarily provide a work-place for the definition of models including proprietary services like code generation. The separation of services and modelling tools enables independent reuse of services. Consequently, the efficiency of the modelling process increases as services become globally shared assets.

This talk show how these ideas are reflected in the design and functionality of the Evolution and Validation Environment EVE. EVE provides an interoperability platform for model exchange. It consists solely of components which adhere to open specifications, such as XMI, UML, and OCL. EVE is designed as a loosely coupled system, which allows users to executed services locally or transparently over the network by combining services in arbitrary ways.

Hospitality: Paul Strooper

Contact: Phil Cook (SSE seminar co-ordinator) (philc@itee.uq.edu.au)

SSE seminar web page: http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~sse/Seminars.html