transML: A family of languages to model model transformations

Abstract

Model transformation is one of the pillars of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE). The increasing complexity of systems and modelling languages has dramatically raised the complexity and size of model transformations. Even though many transformation languages and tools have been proposed in the last few years, most of them are directed to the implementation phase of transformation development. However, there is a lack of cohesive support for the other phases of the transformation development, like requirements, analysis, design and testing. In this paper, we propose a unified family of languages to cover the life-cycle of transformation development. Moreover, following an MDE approach, we provide tools to partially automate the progressive refinement of models between the different phases and the generation of code for specific transformation implementation languages.