Graphical template language for transformation synthesis

Abstract

Higher-Order Transformations (HOT) have become an important support for the development of model transformations in various transformation languages. Most frequently HOTs are used to synthesize transformations from different kinds of models, for example, mapping models. This means that model driven development (MDD) is being successfully applied to transformations themselves too. The standard HOT solution is to create the transformation as a model using the abstract syntax. However, for graphical transformation languages a significantly more efficient solution would be to create the transformation using its graphical (concrete) syntax. An analogy could be the textual template languages such as JET which directly create texts from a model in the concrete syntax of the target language. This paper introduces a new kind of language - a graphical template language for transformation synthesis, named Template MOLA. This language is used for creation of transformations in MOLA transformation language. Template MOLA is an adequate solution for many typical HOT applications. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.