Formal Support for Model Driven Development with Graph Transformation Techniques

In this paper we give an overview of our approach for Model Driven Development (MDD), based on graph transformation techniques. In MDD, models are the primary assets in the development process. They are not only used for documentation, but also for analysis, simulation, code and test cases generation. Thus, model transformation becomes a central activity. As models can be formally described as attributed, typed graphs, we can use formal graph transformation techniques for their manipulation. In this paper, we give an overview of the different kinds of model transformation and suitable graph transformation techniques. Moreover, graph transformation can be combined with meta-modelling for further expressivity. Some of these techniques have been recently implemented in the Metamodelling tool AToM. We use the tool to introduce an example in the component-based modelling and simulation area.