Model transformations in the development of data-intensive Web applications

Abstract

Over the last few years, Web-based systems became commonplace. Despite the complexity and the economic significance of such applications, current practice does not always apply robust and well-understood principles. Model driven architecture (MDA) separates the application logic from the underlying platform technology and represents them with precise semantic models. Web application development there-fore has potentially the most to gain from adopting such techniques that can offer a greater return on development time and quality factors than traditional approaches. In particular, the paper presents model-driven transformations between platform-independent (conceptual descriptions of Web applications) and platform-specific (Model-View-Controller conformant) models. The design of such transformations is documented (and possibly animated) through mathematically rigorous specifications given by means of Abstract State Machines. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.