XML technologies in the SmartTools Software Factory
Carine Courbis, Didier Parigot · 2007
Because of the Internet and the associated proliferation of compo-nent and distributive technologies, the way of designing and im-plementing complex applications has to be modified to integrate standards and code distribution. To cope with these changes, appli-cations need to be more open, flexible and capable of evolving. The main goal of this paper is to describe how XML technologies are used at different levels, in an application named SMARTTOOLS, a software factory for DSLs. XML technologies were, not only used for its implementation (bootstrap), but also in the generated DSL software. The innovative part of our work was combining together three approaches: the MDA (Model-Driven Architecture) approach, the Generative Programming, and the XML technologies. The main results are i) to benefit from existing tools and their evolution for the XML technologies, ii) to have an open application (and generated tools) without proprietary techniques, and iii) to build software of better quality due to business models and technology separation, that is easy to adapt and modify.