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https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2138/paper0.pdf
On the Interplay between Model-Driven
Engineering, Domain-Specific Languages, and
Petri Nets
Manuel Wimmer
CDL-MINT, TU Wien, Austria
wimmer@big.tuwien.ac.at
Abstract Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) [2] is a paradigm to tame
the complexity of modern systems, automate engineering tasks, and sup-
port inter-human communication. Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) [4]
are an important ingredient for MDE as they allow domain experts (who
may not necessarily be software experts) to express their concerns with
more familiar concepts than with traditional general purpose languages.
However, DSLs typically have a smaller user base which increases the
relative development and maintenance cost, not only for the languages
themselves, but also for their accompanying tools [7]. Now the question
arises how to reduce this overhead. Can well-studied general purpose
languages such as Petri Nets help in this setting?
In my talk, I will demonstrate that Petri Nets can play a very central
role in this setting, especially when it comes to the semantics of DSLs [3].
In the last decade, several metamodeling frameworks emerged, e.g., see
AToMPM1 , GEMOC Studio2 , GME3 , MetaEdit+4 to name just a few
examples, which allow not only the definition of the syntax of modeling
languages and the generation of supporting tools such as model editors
and validators, but also semantic concerns may be specified and auto-
matically turned into tool support such as execution engines [5], debug-
gers [1], and verification engines [8]. However, having a unified method-
ology to develop DSLs systematically to benefit from rich out-of-the-box
tool support is still an open research challenge where Petri Nets may
form an important cornerstone.
Furthermore, I will present some lessons learned from past projects and
outline new application areas for DSLs combined with Petri Nets in the
realm of Industry 4.0. In particular, I will report on our experiences of re-
alizing model transformation engines based on Coloured Petri Nets [10]
and their utilization for specifying the semantics of declarative model
transformation languages [9]. Finally, recent advances are outlined how
the prescriptive models of MDE are combined with the descriptive mod-
els of process mining to allow for continuously improved software sys-
tems [6].
1
https://atompm.github.io
2
http://gemoc.org/studio.html
3
http://w3.isis.vanderbilt.edu/Projects/gme/index.html
4
https://www.metacase.com/products.html
12 PNSE’18 – Petri Nets and Software Engineering
Keywords: Meta-Modeling, Petri Nets, Domain-Specific Modeling, Lan-
guage Workbench, Model Transformations, Process Mining
References
1. Bousse, E., Leroy, D., Combemale, B., Wimmer, M., Baudry, B.: Omniscient debug-
ging for executable DSLs. Journal of Systems and Software 137, 261–288 (2018).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2017.11.025
2. Brambilla, M., Cabot, J., Wimmer, M.: Model-Driven Soft-
ware Engineering in Practice, Second Edition. Synthesis Lectures
on Software Engineering, Morgan & Claypool Publishers (2017).
https://doi.org/10.2200/S00751ED2V01Y201701SWE004
3. Bryant, B.R., Gray, J., Mernik, M., Clarke, P.J., France, R.B., Karsai, G.: Chal-
lenges and directions in formalizing the semantics of modeling languages. Comput.
Sci. Inf. Syst. 8(2), 225–253 (2011). https://doi.org/10.2298/CSIS110114012B
4. Kosar, T., Bohra, S., Mernik, M.: Domain-specific languages: A system-
atic mapping study. Information & Software Technology 71, 77–91 (2016).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2015.11.001
5. Mayerhofer, T., Langer, P., Wimmer, M., Kappel, G.: xMOF: Executable DSMLs
Based on fUML. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Software
Language Engineering (SLE). pp. 56–75 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-
319-02654-1_4
6. Mazak, A., Wimmer, M.: On Marrying Model-driven Engineering and Process Min-
ing: A Case Study in Execution-based Model Profiling. In: Proceedings of the 6th
International Symposium on Data-driven Process Discovery and Analysis (SIM-
PDA). pp. 78–88 (2016), http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1757/paper6.pdf
7. Mernik, M., Heering, J., Sloane, A.M.: When and how to develop
domain-specific languages. ACM Comput. Surv. 37(4), 316–344 (2005).
https://doi.org/10.1145/1118890.1118892
8. Meyers, B., Deshayes, R., Lucio, L., Syriani, E., Vangheluwe, H., Wimmer, M.:
ProMoBox: A Framework for Generating Domain-Specific Property Languages. In:
Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Software Language Engineering
(SLE). pp. 1–20 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11245-9_1
9. Wimmer, M., Kappel, G., Schönböck, J., Kusel, A., Retschitzegger, W., Schwinger,
W.: A Petri Net Based Debugging Environment for QVT Relations. In: Proceed-
ings of the 24th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software
Engineering (ASE). pp. 3–14 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1109/ASE.2009.99
10. Wimmer, M., Kappel, G., Schönböck, J., Kusel, A., Retschitzegger, W., Schwinger,
W.: TROPIC: A Framework for Model Transformations on Petri Nets in Color.
In: Companion Proceedings to the 24th Annual ACM SIGPLAN Conference on
Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications (OOPSLA).
pp. 783–784 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1145/1639950.1640013