A Layered Approach to Defining a Transformation Language-Informal Description and Validation by Case Study

Model transformation is the process of changing a given source model to produce a target model, according to a pre-defined set of rules. Usually transformations modify model structure, notation or level of abstraction, while preserving the underlying semantics. Certain transformations create a completely new target model, while others only update the source model. The most commonly known transformation examples include generation of code from software design models and code refactoring. Code generation and refactoring features are offered by many software development tools, and established techniques for implementing such transformations are available to tool developers. In recent years however, all software engineering activities have started to become more model-oriented and a great need for transformation between various modelling notations has emerged. The driving force behind these software engineering trends is the Model Driven Architecture (MDA)[mda02], which is based on the idea of automated transformation between Platform Independent Models (PIM) and Platform Specific Models (PSM). As a result of the increased demand for more diverse model transformations in the industry, there arises a need for languages, methods and tools that can assist in development of such transformations.