An institution theory of formal meta-modelling in graphically extended BNF

Meta-modelling plays an important role in model driven software development. In this paper, a graphic exten- sion of BNF （GEBNF） is proposed to define the abstract syn- tax of graphic modelling languages. From a GEBNF syntax definition, a formal predicate logic language can be induced so that meta-m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers of Computer Science 2012-02, Vol.6 (1), p.40-56
Main Author: ZHU, Hong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
abstract syntax
BNF
Computer Science
formal logic
Formal specifications
graphic extension of BNF (GEBNF)
institution
meta-modelling
Modelling
modelling languages
Predicate logic
Research Article
Semantics
Software development
Specification and description languages
Syntax
图形扩展
建模理论
建模语言
机构
模型驱动
软件开发
逻辑语言
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Summary:Meta-modelling plays an important role in model driven software development. In this paper, a graphic exten- sion of BNF （GEBNF） is proposed to define the abstract syn- tax of graphic modelling languages. From a GEBNF syntax definition, a formal predicate logic language can be induced so that meta-modelling can be performed formally by spec- ifying a predicate on the domain of syntactically valid mod- els. In this paper, we investigate the theoretical foundation of this meta-modelling approach. We formally define the se- mantics of GEBNF and its induced predicate logic languages, then apply Goguen and Burstall＇s institution theory to prove that they form a sound and valid formal specification lan- guage for meta-modelling.
ISSN:1673-7350
2095-2228
1673-7466
2095-2236
DOI:10.1007/s11704-012-2902-4