Model Fusion AOP Feature Interaction

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Model Fusion?AOP?Feature Interaction

• Tom Maibaum
• McMaster University
• tom_at_maibaum.org

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Some History

• Views idea (models in different formalisms used
  jointly to design systems) originated with
• Atendolfo Angel Pereda Borquez and Roberto Lins
  de Carvalho, PUC/Rio, 1978-82
• mapping models from one formalism to another
• used 4 different formalisms
• Celso Niskier, Daniel Schwabe and Carlos José
  Pereira Lucena, PUC/Rio, 1984-86
• built tool PRISMA to represent in Prolog cluses
  the information from 3 models, to maintain joint
  consistency
• Celso came to Imperial College to do a PhD,
  introduced the ideas to Anthony Finkelstein and
  PRESTO
• Bashar Nuseibeh, Steve Easterbrook, etc

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Related Ideas

• Database integration and fusion
• originally, mapping various DB schemas into some
  fusion, so as to integrate respective DBs
• with modern genetics DBs, with badly defined
  schemas and humongous amounts of data, emphasis
  on logical (as opposed to real) integration
• the idea is to provide a mechanism for joint use
  of DBs for computational purposes, without
  actually building a joint model

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Relating Models

• Underlying any notion of views/model fusion is a
  map from one formalism to another
• how to map a model in one into a model in the
  other
• integrate a view into a global model
• relate one view to another
• This is straightforward enough, BUT
• What happens when structure is taken into
  account?

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Relating Models
Different formalisms with different concepts of
object (component) and morphism (structuring
mechanism)
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Relating Models
if formalisms closely related structural
elements are inductively mapped to compound
structures in other formalism
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Relating Models
if formalisms not closely related structural
elements are smeared across the whole structure
in other formalism
see any decent category theory book for a
definition
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model fusion results in smears on smears
see any decent category theory book for a
definition of smear composition
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Summary

• This puts us in mind of aspect oriented
  programming
• which puts us in mind of what was the feature
  interaction problem of telephony
• fused structures lose structure
• a lot of detail related to simply representing
  structure indirectly
• feature interaction occurs
• order of fusion becomes important
• WHAT A MESS!!!!!!!!!!
• If you dont want to blow a fuse, dont literally
  fuse!