Building and Rapidly Evolving Domain-Specific Tools with DOME

The design of today’s complex control systems involves many views from different disciplines. Generic CASE tools offer wide applicability at the expense of depth. Singlepurpose, domain-specific tools provide the needed analytical power but yield diminishing returns outside of their domain. Alternatively, model driven tools based on meta-models, that is, explicit characterizations of the domain of interest, can quickly evolve to meet new needs. This paper describes one such model-driven tool-set called the Domain Modeling Environment (DOME). We describe its meta-modeling capabilities and its extension mechanisms for analysis and transformation of models. We illustrate DOME with two examples: (a) using an interpreter called ProtoDOME to directly “execute” metamodels; (b) showing how a meta-model can quickly evolve to build a new graphical design tool.