Tool Support for Refinement of Nonfunctional Spec

Authors: Simone Röttger Steffen Zschaler

Publish Date: 2006/07/12

Volume: 6, Issue: 2, Pages: 185-204

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Abstract

Model driven architecture MDA views application development as a continuous transformation of models of the target system We propose a methodology which extends this view to nonfunctional properties In previous publications we have shown how we can use socalled context models to make the specification of nonfunctional measurements independent of their application in concrete system specifications We have also shown how this allows us to distinguish two roles in the development process the measurement designer and the application designerIn this paper we use the notion of context models to allow the measurement designer to provide measurement definitions at different levels of abstraction A measurement in our terminology is a nonfunctional dimension that can be constrained to describe a nonfunctional property Requiring the measurement designer to define transformations between context models and applying them to measurement definitions enables us to provide tool support for refinement of nonfunctional constraints to the application designer The paper presents the concepts for such tool support as well as a prototype implementation

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