Extending OCL Operation Contracts with Objective Functions
Matthias P. Krieger und Achim D. Brucker
We explore the potential of adding objective functions to OCL operation contracts. If an operation contract includes an objective function, the operation has the obligation to yield results that make the objective function assume an optimal value. Thus, an objective function expresses a preference among the possible operation results that conform to the postconditions of the operation contract and any class invariants. Objective functions strictly increase the expressiveness of OCL operation contracts. While objective functions arise naturally in application domains like operations research, we argue that objective functions are a useful general-purpose specification instrument and discuss several application examples. As tool support for operation contracts with objective functions, we present an animator for OCL operation contracts with optimization capabilities. We ensure tool interoperability by specifying objective functions in a UML profile.
Schlüsselwörter: OCL, UML, objective functions
Kategorien: ,
Dokumente: (Artikel als PDF Datei)
Bitte zitieren sie diesen Artikel wie folgt:
Matthias P. Krieger und Achim D. Brucker.
Extending OCL Operation Contracts with Objective Functions.
In Electronic Communications of the EASST, 44, 2011.
Schlüsselwörter: OCL, UML, objective functions
(Artikel als PDF Datei) (BibTeX) (Endnote) (RIS) (Word) (doi:10.14279/tuj.eceasst.44.662) (ECEASST) (
)
| abstract | = | {We explore the potential of adding objective functions to OCL operation contracts. If an operation contract includes an objective function, the operation has the obligation to yield results that make the objective function assume an optimal value. Thus, an objective function expresses a preference among the possible operation results that conform to the postconditions of the operation contract and any class invariants. Objective functions strictly increase the expressiveness of OCL operation contracts. While objective functions arise naturally in application domains like operations research, we argue that objective functions are a useful general-purpose specification instrument and discuss several application examples. As tool support for operation contracts with objective functions, we present an animator for OCL operation contracts with optimization capabilities. We ensure tool interoperability by specifying objective functions in a UML profile.}, | |
| author | = | {Matthias P. Krieger and Achim D. Brucker}, | |
| copyright | = | {ECEASST}, | |
| copyrighturl | = | {http://journal.ub.tu-berlin.de/eceasst/article/view/662}, | |
| doi | = | {10.14279/tuj.eceasst.44.662}, | |
| editor | = | {Jordi Cabot and Tony Clark and Manuel Clavel and Martin Gogolla}, | |
| issn | = | {1863-2122}, | |
| journal | = | {Electronic Communications of the EASST}, | |
| keywords | = | {OCL, UML, objective functions}, | |
| language | = | {USenglish}, | |
| = | {https://www.brucker.ch/bibliography/download/2011/krieger.ea-objective-functions-2011.pdf}, | ||
| title | = | {Extending {OCL} Operation Contracts with Objective Functions}, | |
| url | = | {https://www.brucker.ch/bibliography/abstract/krieger.ea-objective-functions-2011}, | |
| volume | = | {44}, | |
| volumetitle | = | {Proceedings of the Workshop on {OCL} and Textual Modelling (OCL 2011)}, | |
| year | = | {2011}, |