Software design through model transformation

尽管软件工程研究已经取得了很大的进展，但设计高质量的软件系统和提高生产率仍然是一个巨大的挑战。这是由于软件开发过程的复杂性，需要在分析领域和软件开发领域都有广泛的知识。我们确定了两个正交的方法，试图管理这种复杂性。第一种将开发过程视为一系列转换，从软件的规范开始，以其实现结束，而第二种则包括确定重复出现问题的解决方案。我们的研究计划结合了这两种方法，特别是在设计阶段。事实上，我们的目标是开发技术和工具，支持软件设计人员在从分析过渡到设计的框架内的转换模型驱动的方法。特别是，我们有兴趣探索转换，支持两个关键的设计活动，即建筑设计和详细设计。我们将这些设计活动视为通过应用编码的设计工件（如设计模式和架构风格）转换输入模型的过程。因此，在这项研究计划中，我们建议建立和实施的方法，这将有助于推断应用这些设计工件的上下文，并支持其应用程序中的模型转换框架。 这项研究计划的结果将有助于更好地理解和支持软件设计过程，特别是设计工件。通过实现架构风格和设计模式等设计工件的更高程度的自动化，我们有助于提高软件系统的质量，提高生产力并降低维护成本。

Although much progress has been accomplished by software engineering research, designing high quality software systems and increasing productivity still pose great challenges. This results from the complexity of the software development process which requires extensive knowledge both in the domain under analysis and in software development. We identify two orthogonal approaches that attempt to manage this complexity. The first views the development process as a sequence of transformations that start with a specification of the software and end with its implementation while the second consists of identifying solutions to recurring problems. Our research program combines these two approaches, in particular in the design step. Indeed we aim to develop techniques and tools that support software designers in the transition from analysis to design within the framework of a transformational model-driven approach. In particular, we are interested in exploring transformations that support two key design activities namely architectural design and detailed design. We view these design activities as the process of transforming input models by applying codified design artifacts such as design patterns and architectural styles. Hence, within this research program, we propose to build and implement approaches that will help in inferring the context for applying these design artifacts and support their application within a model transformation framework. The results of this research program will contribute to a better understanding and support of the software design process in general and design artifacts in particular. By achieving a higher degree of automation of design artifacts such as architectural styles and design patterns, we contribute to enhancing the quality of software systems, increasing productivity and reducing maintenance costs.