A source model simplification method to assist model transformation debugging
Pages 961 - 984
Abstract
Model transformation, which is a program targeting at transforming an input model to an output model, has been a critical basis for Model-Driven Engineering (MDE). The quality of model transformation programs directly affects the quality of software products built with MDE activities. Therefore, debugging model transformation programs has been crucial from the quality assurance point of view. One of the key impediments to the model transformation debugging is the high complexity and scale of the input models. In order to ameliorate the burden on model transformation debugging, this study proposes an effective approach to systematically reduce input models of model transformation programs. By combining the advantages of input simplification approaches for traditional programs and also the characteristics of model transformation, our approach leverages and adapts the delta debugging technique to model simplification. We conduct experiments to evaluate the proposed approach from two aspects: its effectiveness in model simplification, and its effects on model transformation debugging. Our experimental results confirm the positive contributions of the approach in both aspects. It delivers promising reduction effectiveness, and it can also well support the fault localization in model transformations.
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Publication History
Published: 24 May 2024
Accepted: 24 April 2024
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- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Research and Development Program of China
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