Adding Abstraction and Reuse to a Network Modelling Tool using the Reuseware Composition Framework

2010 research paper

In Proc. of 6th European Conference on Modelling Foundations and Applications (ECMFA’10), volume 6138 of LNCS, Springer
with: Miguel A. Fernández

Domain-specific modelling (DSM) environments enable experts in a certain domain to actively participate in model-driven development. Developing DSM environments need to be cost-efficient, since they are only used by a limited group of domain experts. Different model-driven technologies promise to allow this cost-efficient development. [1] presented experiences in developing a DSM environment for telecommunication network modelling. There, challenges were identified that need to be addressed by other new modelling technologies. In this paper, we now present the results of addressing one of theses challenges— abstraction and reuse support—with the Reuseware Composition Framework. We show how we identified the abstraction and reuse features required in the telecommunication DSM environment in a case study and extended the existing environment with these features using Reuseware. We discuss the advantages of using this technology and propose a process for further improving the abstraction and reuse capabilities of the DSM environment in the future.