Beyond Code: An Introduction to Model-Driven Software Development (CISC 836, Winter 2021) Home page [Home] [Content] [Schedule] [Projects]

Important note
These are the webpages for last term's version (Winter 2021) of the course. For this term's version (Fall 2021), go here.

Teaching Staff
Instructor: Juergen Dingel, Goodwin Hall 723, dingel@cs, office hours: tba

Time and place
Tuesdays 2-3:30pm and Thursday 9:30-11am. The course will be held remotely with synchronous meetings using Microsoft Teams. A link to the first meeting on Tuesday, January 12 at 2pm will be posted here soon. Registered participants should have received emails containing the links to the MS Teams meetings for the classes on Tuesday and Thursday. If you are not yet registered or have not received the links, please send me an email at 'dingel@cs.queensu.ca'.

Audience
This course is suitable for students with an interest in the theory and practise of software development in general and the use of models in software development in particular.

General Description
Models are pervasive in engineering. The impact of models on the practise of software engineering, however, has been relatively limited and pales in comparison to the pivotal roles models play in other engineering disciplines. The idea of making models a more prominent artifact in everyday software development has been enjoying increasing support in academia and industry and many approaches, tools and standards have been proposed. Indeed, in some industries (e.g., automotive) development already revolves around the use of models.

This course will present some of the key ideas, potential benefits and challenges of software modeling in general and of model-driven software development (MDSD) in particular. Specific attention will be paid to the use of MDSD for event-based, reactive systems.

At the end of the course, students will be familiar with the state of the art in software modeling and have gained some critical understanding of the theory and practice involving the use of models for software development.

The goals of this course are to

• present some of the fundamental concepts, techniques, and research challenges involving the use of models in software development.
• give students some practical experience with the use, advantages and disadvantages of software modeling.
• introduce students to the research in the field.

Format
The course will combine lectures, assigned readings, assignments, and a project. The course will cover the topics described on the Content page. The assigned readings will be drawn from the research literature and reinforce the lecture material. The projects will serve to, e.g., provide hands-on experience with a specific tool or technology.

Marking scheme
A student's overall mark will be computed as follows:

• Assignments (4): 40%
• Participation: 10%
• Paper reviews: 10%
• Project and presentation: 40%

Prerequisites
Good knowledge of object-oriented programming (preferably in Java or C++).

Material

• Slides: The lecture slides will be made available on the Schedule page.
• Papers: Papers are available on the Schedule page.
• On-line material: Most of the tools discussed in the course have extensive publically accessible web pages.
• Textbooks on the topic (not mandatory)
  • On model-driven development
    • Marco Brambilla, Jordi Cabot, Manuel Wimmer. Model-Driven Software Engineering in Practice. Morgan and Claypool. 2017. Book web page
    • J. Greenfield and K. Short. Software Factories. Wiley. 2004.
    • S.J. Mellor, K. Scott, A. Uhl, D. Weise. MDA Distilled: Principles of Model-Driven Architecture. Addison Wesley. 2004.
  • On UML
    • G. Booch, J. Rumbaugh, I. Jacobson. UML User Guide. 2nd Edition. Addison Wesley. 2005.
    • M. Fowler. UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modeling Language (3rd Edition). Addison Wesley. 2003.
  • On DSLs, language workbenches, and software language engineering
    • Eelco Visser. WebDSL: A Case Study in Domain-Specific Language Engineering (GTTSE'07). 2007
    • S. Kelly and J.-P. Tolvanen. Domain-Specific Modeling: Enabling Full Code Generation. Wiley 2008.
    • Lorenzo Bettini. Implementing Domain-Specific Languages with Xtext and Xtend. Packt Publishing. 2013
    • Markus Voelter. DSL Engineering: Designing, Implementing and Using Domain-Specific Languages. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2013. Book web page
    • A. Kleppe. Software Language Engineering. Addison Wesley. 2009.

Last modified: Thu Nov 30 11:47:14 EST 2017