Translating ATL model transformations to algebraic graph transformations

Abstract

Analyzing and reasoning on model transformations has become very relevant for various applications such as ensuring the correctness of transformations. ATL is a model transformation language with rich semantics and a focus on usability, making its analysis not straightforward. Conversely, Algebraic Graph Transformation (AGT) is an approach with strong theoretical foundations allowing for formal analyses that would be valuable in the context of ATL. In this paper we propose a translation of ATL to the AGT framework in the objective of bringing theoretical analyses of AGT to ATL transformations. We validate our proposal by translating a set of feature-rich ATL transformations to the Henshin AGT framework. We execute the ATL and AGT versions on the same set of models and verify that the result is the same.