AnimUML as a UML Modeling and Verification Teaching Tool
Frédéric Jouault, Valentin Sebille, Valentin Besnard, Théo Le Calvar, Ciprian Teodorov, Matthias Brun, Jérôme Delatour · 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems Companion (MODELS-C) · 2021
Practice with feedback is essential to most learning activities. Although invaluable, an instructor’s availability to give feedback is necessarily time-limited, but can sometimes be complemented by automated feedback. This is actually the case when learning a new programming language: students can get automated low-level feedback on their production from compilers, interpreters, and program output. However, this is generally not possible when learning a modeling language. Even for UML, which has multiple available execution engines, getting automated feedback from a model’s execution requires it to be virtually as precise and complete as a program. In previous work, we presented AnimUML, which makes it possible to animate incomplete and inconsistent models. The work presented here shows how AnimUML works in practice, and how it can be used when teaching modeling. With it, students can observe the behavior or existing models, thus getting a first hands-on experience with the UML semantics. They can then start creating and animating their own models, all along getting a similar level of automated feedback as when learning a programming language. Finally, because it can be connected to a model checker, AnimUML can also help teach model verification.