A Metamodel Independent Approach to Difference Representation.
Antonio Cicchetti, Davide Di Ruscio, Alfonso Pierantonio · The Journal of Object Technology · 2007
It is of critical relevance that designers are able to comprehend the various kinds of design-level modifications that a system undergoes throughout its entire lifecycle.In this respect, an interesting and useful operation between subsequent system versions is the model difference calculation and representation.In this paper, a metamodel independent approach to the representation of model differences which is agnostic of the calculation method is presented.Given two models which conform to a metamodel, their difference is conforming to another metamodel derived from the former by an automated transformation.Difference models are first-class entities which induce transformations able to apply the modifications they specify.Finally, difference models can be composed sequentially and in parallel giving place to more complex modifications.