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 GEB...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.展开更多
文摘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.