Metamodeling in Software Architectures
Adel Smeda, Mourad Chabane Oussalah · 2014
This chapter emphasizes the importance of metamodeling in the context of software architecture compared to the metamodeling in object paradigm. The chapter proposes an approach to model software architectures at different levels of abstraction using a meta-metamodel called Meta Architecture Description Language (MADL). It shows how these metamodeling techniques can be applied to the field of software architecture. The chapter highlights the need to propose mechanisms of reflexivity in context of software architectures metamodeling. A metaarchitecture is therefore a formal or semi-formal ADL that allows the modeling of particular systems, namely architectures. The meta-architecture (level A2) is an architecture itself and therefore, in more general way, a system can thus be modeled. We then obtain the architecture of the metaarchitecture: meta-meta-architecture (level A3). The chapter shows an approach enabling mapping of a given ADL to unified modeling language (UML) 2.0, and how to map concepts of Acme to UML 2.0.