Ontology-Driven Software Development: Generating Java code from OntoUML.

MASTER Assignment

Type : Master M-CS

Period: June, 2024 - November, 2024

Student : Grievink, G. (Guus, Student M-CS)

Date Final project: November 19, 2024

Thesis

Supervisors:

Abstract:

OntoUML is a modelling language intended for structural conceptual modelling using ontological theories from the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO). Compared to plain UML, OntoUML is oriented towards the concept of ontologies and thus aims to capture more precise semantics about the modelled domain. For OntoUML to be of added value for the development of software applications, the ontological semantics should be respected by the developed code. When using an OntoUML model as a reference ontology, software developers might not be familiar with the underlying UFO theories of an OntoUML model, which might result in consistency issues between the created software and the underlying ontology. The research provides an automated transformation from OntoUML to Java code. The goal has been to develop a transformation that preserves OntoUML semantics and that can be used in conjunction with existing OntoUML tools. Among the contributions of this research are a transformation on a conceptual level of twelve OntoUML class stereotypes, an implementation of this transformation within the Eclipse Modelling Framework, and an Ecore metamodel for OntoUML that can be reused for other model transformation projects.