Paper Info
Title
Evaluating formal properties of feature diagram languages
Abstract
Feature diagrams (FDs) are a family of popular modelling languages, mainly used for managing variability in software product lines. FDs were first introduced by Kang et al. as part of the feature-oriented domain analysis (FODA) method back in 1990. Since then, various extensions of FODA FDs were devised to compensate for purported ambiguity and lack of precision and expressiveness. Recently, the authors surveyed these notations and provided them with a generic formal syntax and semantics, called free feature diagrams (FFDs). The authors also started investigating the comparative semantics of FFD with respect to other recent formalisations of FD languages. Those results were targeted at improving the quality of FD languages and making the comparison between them more objective. The previous results are recalled in a self-contained, better illustrated and better motivated fashion. Most importantly, a general method is presented for comparative semantics of FDs grounded in Harel and Rumpe's guidelines for defining formal visual languages and in Krogstie et al.'s semiotic quality framework. This method being actually applicable to other visual languages, FDs are also used as a language (re)engineering exemplar throughout the paper.
Year
DOI
Venue
2008
10.1049/iet-sen:20070055
Software, IET
Keywords
Field
DocType
product development,software quality,software reusability,specification languages,feature diagram language quality,feature-oriented domain analysis method,formal property evaluation,formal semantics,free feature diagram,generic formal syntax,modelling language,software product lines
Domain analysis,Notation,Programming language,Formal language,Computer science,Natural language processing,Formal grammar,Artificial intelligence,Software quality,Ambiguity,Software development,Semantics
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
2
3
1751-8806
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
34
1.52
29
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Patrick Heymans12634136.40
Pierre-Yves Schobbens22042104.80
Jean-christophe Trigaux343417.17
Yves Bontemps434817.36
Raimundas Matulevičius545944.97
Andreas Classen695731.68