Model-Driven Architecture: Vision, Standards And Emerging Technologies

Автор: John D. Poole
[ Электронный источник: читать ]

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Abstract

Recently, the Object Management Group introduced the Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) initiative as an approach to system-specification and interoperability based on the use of formal models [MDA, MDA2, DSouza]. In MDA, platform-independent models (PIMs) are initially expressed in a platform-independent modeling language, such as UML. The platform-independent model is subsequently translated to a platform-specific model (PSM) by mapping the PIM to some implementation language or platform (e.g., Java) using formal rules.

At the core of the MDA concept are a number of important OMG standards: The Unified Modeling Language (UML), Meta Object Facility (MOF), XML Metadata Interchange (XMI), and the Common Warehouse Metamodel (CWM). These standards define the core infrastructure of the MDA, and have greatly contributed to the current state-of-the- art of systems modeling [MDA2].

As an OMG process, the MDA represents a major evolutionary step in the way the OMG defines interoperability standards. For a very long time, interoperability had been based largely on CORBA standards and services. Heterogeneous software systems inter- operate at the level of standard component interfaces. The MDA process, on the other hand, places formal system models at the core of the interoperability problem. What is most significant about this approach is the independence of the system specification from the implementation technology or platform. The system definition exists independently of any implementation model and has formal mappings to many possible platform infrastructures (e.g., Java, XML, SOAP).