Modeling language
In computer science and related areas of information management or process management , modeling languages enable software developers , system analysts or system architects to define the requirements for an organizational system or a software system as well as its structures and internal processes on a higher level of abstraction. These languages try to make a specification as understandable as possible for management, users and other parties involved by displaying it in diagram form.
Every modeling language has a fixed syntax that can be described using a grammar or a metamodel .
If one considers the increasing complexity of software systems, the usefulness of modeling languages is undisputed.
Common modeling languages
A large number of modeling languages appear in the literature. The most common ones provide a wide variety of tools for processing.
- Business Process Model and Notation (English for model and notation for business processes )
- Entity relationship model in the context of semantic data modeling
- Event-driven process chain (EPC) (on Engl. Event-driven Process Chain (EPC) )
- Function diagram according to ISO EN 61131-3
- Distributed control systems according to ISO EN 61499
- IDEF ( Integrated Definition )
- Petri nets (named after Carl Adam Petri )
- Program flow chart according to DIN 66001
- Specification and Description Language (English for specification and description language )
- SysML ( system modeling language )
- Unified Modeling Language (English for unified modeling language )
- WS-Business Process Execution Language (English for WS -execution language for business processes )
In addition to the general modeling languages, there are also industry-specific modeling languages, e.g. B. EAST-ADL for the automotive sector or the PICTURE method in public administration.
Executable programs from models
There are modeling languages that can be used to create executable programs or program fragments. For some modeling languages there are tools that generate source code or simulate the behavior of the system in operation.
If source code is generated from models, one generally speaks of model-driven architecture .
verification
In the mid-1990s, tools for checking models began to be made available in order to ensure a verification of the models and to minimize the resulting errors in software development. Common software tools such as B. for BPMN enable the checking of the syntax of modeling languages.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolfgang Hesse, Heinrich C. Mayr: Modeling in software technology: an inventory. Computer Science Spectrum, Vol. 31, No. 5. (1 October 2008), pp. 377-393.