Paper Info
Title
Graph Consistency as a Graduated Property: Consistency-Sustaining and -Improving Graph Transformations
Abstract
Where graphs are used for modelling and specifying systems, consistency is an important concern. To be a valid model of a system, the graph structure must satisfy a number of constraints. To date, consistency has primarily been viewed as a binary property: a graph either is or is not consistent with respect to a set of graph constraints. This has enabled the definition of notions such as constraint-preserving and constraint-guaranteeing graph transformations. Many practical applications - for example model repair or evolutionary search - implicitly assume a more graduated notion of consistency, but without an explicit formalisation only limited analysis of these applications is possible. In this paper, we introduce an explicit notion of consistency as a graduated property, depending on the number of constraint violations in a graph. We present two new characterisations of transformations (and transformation rules) enabling reasoning about the gradual introduction of consistency: while consistency-sustaining transformations do not decrease the consistency level, consistency-improving transformations strictly reduce the number of constraint violations. We show how these new definitions refine the existing concepts of constraint-preserving and constraint-guaranteeing transformations. To support a static analysis based on our characterisations, we present criteria for deciding which form of consistency ensuring transformations is induced by the application of a transformation rule. We illustrate our contributions in the context of an example from search-based model engineering.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.1007/978-3-030-51372-6_14
ICGT
DocType
Citations 
PageRank 
Conference
0
0.34
References 
Authors
0
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Kosiol Jens100.34
Daniel Strüber211621.50
Gabriele Taentzer32667196.98
Steffen Zschaler445040.06