A framework for defining and comparing modelling methods

Abstract

There are a huge number of scientific papers and reports intended for practitioners, not forgetting whole books and websites, presenting modelling methods in the field of software development. Thus, many questions naturally arise concerning both the nature of method itself (say, e.g. its scope and intended use) and the relationships between different methods, to compare them and choosing the most appropriate for a specific application. Here we present a preliminary attempt at proposing a “modelling method framework” suitable for presenting the constituents, both technical and methodological, of a method in an organized and possibly precise way. The purpose of our framework is to provide a setting for answering the above mentioned questions in a systematic and well-founded way.We will illustrate our proposed framework using some existing methods for modelling service-based systems. At the end of the paper we offer a short tribute to a long standing friendship with Martin.