The Role of (Software) Languages in the Socio-Technical Coordination (Oct., 2014)

The Role of (Software) Languages in
the Socio-Technical Coordination
Benoit Combemale (Inria & Univ. Rennes 1)
http://people.irisa.fr/Benoit.Combemale
benoit.combemale@irisa.fr
@bcombemale

Disclaimer
The Role of (Software) Languages in the Socio-Technical Coordination (B. Combemale) - 2
•  I’m a Software Engineer!
•  with a background on formal methods, programming/modeling
languages, validation & verification and model-driven engineering ;
•  in the context of complex software-intensive systems (embedded,
critical, distributed, reactive, real-time…).
•  No background in EA, MDO…
•  happy to learn for cross-fertilization!

Aerodynamics
Authorities
Avionics
Safety
Regulations
Airlines
Propulsion
System
Mechanical
Structure
Environmental
Impact
Navigation
Communications
Human-
Machine
Interaction
3
Multiple
Concerns

4
Aerodynamics
Authorities
Avionics
Safety
Regulations
Airlines
Propulsion
System
Mechanical
Structure
Environmental
Impact
Navigation
Communications
Human-
Machine
Interaction
Heterogeneous
Modeling

The Quest for the Modularity
- 5
1.  Module: separation of concerns
2.  Object, Aspect, Trait: functional encapsulation
3.  Component: extra-functional encapsulation
4.  DS(M)L: accidental complexity management
•  continuity from requirement to runtime.
The Role of (Software) Languages in the Socio-Technical Coordination (B. Combemale)

Model-Driven Engineering (MDE)
- 6
J. Whittle, J. Hutchinson, and M. Rouncefield, “The State of Practice in Model-
Driven Engineering,” IEEE Software, vol. 31, no. 3, 2014, pp. 79–85.
"Perhaps surprisingly, the majority of MDE examples in our study
followed domain-specific modeling paradigms"
"A clear challenge, then, is how to integrate multiple DSLs."
Distribution
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Alternate Manager
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Manager »
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Manager
« Service Provider
Manager »
Complaint Alternate
Manager
« Service
Provider
Manager »
Complaint
Manager
« Acceptance
Test Manager »
Notification
Acceptance Test
Manager
« Acceptance
Test Manager »
Complaint
Acceptance Test
Manager
« Recovery
Block Manager »
Notification
Recovery Block
Manager
« Client »
User Citizen
Manager
Fault tolerance Roles
Activities
Views
Contexts
Security
Functional behavior
Book
state : StringUser
borrow
return
deliver
setDamaged
res
erv
e
Use case
Platform
Model Design
Model
Code
Model

Software Language Engineering (SLE)
- 7
•  On the The separation of concerns…
Modularization [Parnas72] to allow the structure of the product to
resemble the structure of the organization that designed it
[Conway68]
•  … at the language level
Domain-Specific (Modeling) Language (DSML) should serve to
implement a solution in terms of a problem (socio-technical
coordination [Herbsleb07]).
•  requires to manage the relations between languages
to avoid social isolation and non sharing information (e.g., as
observed in the use of APIs [Souza04])

Global Software Engineering (GSE)
- 8
J.D. Herbsleb, “Global Software Engineering: The Future of Socio-Technical
Coordination,” Future of Software Eng., IEEE CS, 2007, pp. 188–198.
"The need for interoperable tools with standard data
formats and interaction protocols will become increasingly
important as we move toward more integration of
collaborative capabilities into the environment."

MDE + SLE + GSE (The Village Metaphor)
- 9
A. Vallecillo. “A Journey through the Secret Life of Models,“ Dagstuhl seminar on
Model Engineering of Complex Systems (MECS), Aug. 2008.

MDE + SLE + GSE (The Tunnel Digging Analogy)
- 10
David Harel, Assaf Marron: The quest for runware: on compositional, executable
and intuitive models. Software and System Modeling 11(4): 599-608 (2012).

Languages in the Socio-Technical Coordination
- 11
•  DSLs bridge the gap between the problem and the
solution spaces
•  DSLs are a key pivot for the socio-technical
coordination:
•  Generative approaches abstract the technical coordination
•  Concepts tailored for particular domains provide a cognitive
support to the social coordination
•  Support for coordinated use of DSMLs leads to
language-based support for social translucence
goals of an
organization(?)
processes/
workflows

Globalization of Modeling Languages
- 12
Challenge:
•  DSMLs are developed in an independent manner
to meet the specific needs of domain experts,
•  DSMLs should also have an associated
framework that regulates interactions needed to
support collaboration and work coordination
across different system domains.
Benoit Combemale, Julien DeAntoni, Benoit Baudry, Robert B. France,
Jean-Marc Jezequel, Jeff Gray, "Globalizing Modeling Languages,"
Computer, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 68-71, June, 201468 COMPUTER Published by the IEEE Computer Society 0018-9162/14/$31.00 © 2014 IEEE
COLUMN SECTION TITLESOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES
Coordinating domain-specific modeling languages provides support for
language heterogeneity in software-intensive systems’ development and
runtime management.
I
n the software and sys-
tems modeling community,
domain-specific modeling
language (DSML) research
is focused on providing technolo-
gies for developing languages and
tools that allow domain experts to
develop system solutions efficiently.
Unfortunately, it’s very difficult for
software and systems engineers to
reason about information spread
across models describing different
system aspects because of the cur-
rent lack of support for explicitly
relating concepts expressed in dif-
ferent DSMLs. Here, we describe a
research initiative that broadens
the DSML research focus beyond
independent DSML development
to one that supports globalized
DSMLs—that is, DSMLs that facili-
tate coordination of work across
different domains of expertise.
DOMAIN-SPECIFIC
MODELING LANGUAGES
Model-driven engineering (MDE)
aims to reduce the accidental com-
plexity associated with developing
complex software-intensive systems.1
A primary source of this complex-
ity is the wide gap between the
high-level concepts used by domain
experts to express their specific
needs and the low-level abstrac-
tions provided by general-purpose
programming languages.2 Manually
bridging this gap, particularly in the
presence of changing requirements,
is costly in terms of both time and
effort. MDE approaches this problem
through the use of modeling tech-
niques that support separation of
concerns and automated generation
of major system artifacts (for exam-
ple, test cases and implementations)
from models.
In MDE, a model describes an
aspect of a system and is typically
created for specific development
purposes. Separation of concerns
is supported through the use of dif-
ferent modeling languages, each
providing constructs based on ab-
stractions that are specific to an
aspect of a system. For example, gen-
eralized stochastic Petri nets can be
used to create performance models,
whereas the notation provided by the
Simulink tool is adapted to simula-
tion models. MDE technologies also
provide support for manipulating
models, such as for querying, trans-
forming, merging, and analyzing
(including executing) models. Model-
ing languages are thus at MDE’s core.
Globalizing
Modeling
Languages
Benoit Combemale, Inria and Univerity
of Rennes
Julien DeAntoni, University of Nice
Sophia-Antipolis
Benoit Baudry, Inria
Robert B. France, Colorado State University
Jean-Marc Jézéquel, University of Rennes
Jeff Gray, University of Alabama
r6sof.indd 68 5/22/14 10:47 AM

Globalization of Modeling Languages
- 13
Supporting coordinated use of modeling
languages leads to what we call the
globalization of modeling languages, that is,
the use of multiple modeling languages to support
coordinated development of diverse aspects of a
system.
runtime management.
I
DOMAIN-SPECIFIC
MODELING LANGUAGES
from models.
Globalizing
Modeling
Languages
of Rennes
Sophia-Antipolis
r6sof.indd 68 5/22/14 10:47 AM
coordination of different parts of
an organization towards satisfying
strategic and operational goals

Globalization of Modeling Language
- 14
•  Context: new emerging DSML in open world
⇒  impossible a priori unification
⇒  require a posteriori globalization
•  Objective: socio-technical coordination to support interactions
across different system aspects
⇒  Language-based support for technical integration of
multiples domains
⇒  Language-based support for social translucence
•  Problem: relationships among heterogeneous languages
must be established (incl., data, control and time concerns)
runtime management.
I
DOMAIN-SPECIFIC
MODELING LANGUAGES
from models.
Globalizing
Modeling
Languages
of Rennes
Sophia-Antipolis
r6sof.indd 68 5/22/14 10:47 AM

Language interoperability
- 15The Role of (Software) Languages in the Socio-Technical Coordination (B. Combemale)
Information in one model
can be related to
information in other models.

Language collaboration
One model can directly
influence the form and
content of other models.

Language composability
Creation of new forms by
combining information
scattered in other models

The GEMOC Initiative
- 18
An open and international initiative to
•  coordinate (between members)
•  disseminate (on behalf the members)
worldwide R&D efforts
on the globalization of modeling languages
http://gemoc.org
@gemocinitiative

GEMOC: The Community
- 19
United States
Canada

GEMOC: Scientific Background
- 20
Language
Engineering
Global
Software
Engineering
Model-Driven
Engineering

GEMOC: The Studio
- 21
Design and compose
your executable DSMLs
http://gemoc.org/studio
Language
Workbench
Modeling
Workbench
Edit, simulate and animate
your heterogeneous models

The Case of the French ANR Project
Grant #ANR-12-INSE-0011 (01.12.12 – 30.03.16)
- 22
Breakthroughs:
•  modular and explicit definition of the behavioral semantics of modeling
languages, incl. concurrency [APSEC’12, SLE’12, SLE’13]
•  explicit behavioral interface of modeling languages [GEMOC’13]
•  integration of modeling languages for heterogeneous model
coordination [Computer'14]
• Abstract syntax
(domain model)
• Concrete syntax
(static and dynamic)
• Operational semantics
• Composition operators
DSML
Specifications
• Graphical and textual
modeling
• Concurrent execution
• Trace management
• Graphical animation
Heterogeneous
Models
Visit http://gemoc.org/ins
Focus: concurrent execution of behavioral heterogeneous models
Let’s try to
implement ESL (?)

The Case of Metamorphic DSLs
Automating the Formalization of Product Comparison Matrices - 23
Mathieu Acher, Benoît Combemale, Philippe Collet, "Metamorphic Domain-
Specific Languages," Onward! Essays, ACM, 2014.
FAMILIAR
deﬁnition
a
SQL
query
a
FAMILIAR
script
<<conformsTo>>
<<editedWith>>
<<generates>>SQL
deﬁnition
mysql>'SELECT&*&FROM&products;
+)))))))))))+)))))))))))))+)))))))))))+))))))))))+))))))))))))+
|'productID'|'productCode'|'name''''''|'quantity'|'gps''''''''|
+)))))))))))+)))))))))))))+)))))))))))+))))))))))+))))))))))))+
|''''''1001'|'PEN'''''''''|'Car'Red'''|'''''5000'|'''''''true'|
|''''''1002'|'PEN'''''''''|'Car'Blue''|'''''8000'|'''''''true'|
|''''''1003'|'PEN'''''''''|'Car'Black'|'''''2000'|'''''''true'|
|''''''1004'|'PEC'''''''''|'Car'2B''''|''''10000'|'''''''true'|
|''''''1005'|'PEC'''''''''|'Car'2H''''|'''''8000'|'''''''false|
|''''''1006'|'PEC'''''''''|'Car'HB''''|''''''''0'|'''''''false|''
+)))))))))))+)))))))))))))+)))))))))))+))))))))))+))))))))))))+
6'rows'in'set'(0.02'sec)
product manager marketing engineer
software engineer

Conclusion
- 24
•  MDE => SLE => GSE => use of multiple DSMLs
•  Languages are the key pivot for the socio-technical coordination
•  Next challenge: the globalization of modeling languages
•  Identified levels of relations: interoperability, collaboration and
composability
•  The GEMOC Initiative: Join us to include MDO in the scope!

Join us!
The GEMOC Initiative
http://gemoc.org ~ @gemocinitiative
Advisory Board: Benoit Combemale, Robert B. France, Jeff Gray and Jean-Marc Jézéquel

The Role of (Software) Languages in the Socio-Technical Coordination (Oct., 2014)

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