Abstract
Models should represent the essential aspects of a system and leave out the inessential details. In this paper we propose an automatic approach to determine whether a model indeed focuses on the essential aspects. We define a new metric, structural essence, that quantifies the fraction of essential elements in a model. Our approach targets structural models, such as the prevalent UML class diagrams. It is inspired by the idea of algorithmic essence – the amount of repetitive constructs in a program – and the duality between behavior and structure. We present a framework for computing the essence of a structural model based on a transformation of that model into a “distilled model” and on an existing graph algorithm operating on that distilled model. We discuss the meaning of our concept of structural essence based on a set of example models. We hope that our notion of structural essence will spark discussions on the purpose and the essence of models.
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Zaparanuks, D., Hauswirth, M. (2011). Vision Paper: The Essence of Structural Models. In: Whittle, J., Clark, T., Kühne, T. (eds) Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems. MODELS 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6981. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24485-8_34
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24485-8_34
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-24484-1
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