Domain-specific modeling languages: Requirements analysis and design guidelines

Abstract

In recent years, the development of domain-specific modeling languages has gained remarkable attention. This is for good reasons. A domain-specific modeling language incorporates concepts that represent domain-level knowledge. Hence, systems analysts are not forced to reconstruct these concepts from scratch. At the same time, domain-specific modeling languages contribute to model integrity, because they include already constraints that would otherwise have to be added manually. Even though there has been a considerable amount of research on developing and using domain-specific modeling languages, there is still lack of comprehensive methods to guide the design of these languages. With respect to the complexity and risk related to developing a domain-specific modeling language, this is a serious shortfall. This chapter is aimed at a contribution to filling the gap. At first, it presents guidelines for selecting a metamodeling language. Its main focus is on supporting the process from analyzing requirements to specifying and evaluating a domain-specific modeling language.