Abstract
The definition of the exact meaning of conceptual modeling constructs is considered a relevant issue since it contributes to their effective and appropriate use by conceptual modelers. This paper studies three related constructs that enhance the expressiveness of the UML language about associations and which still lack a complete and comprehensive study, namely, association subsetting, specialization and redefinition. It formalizes their semantics, analyses them from an ontological perspective and compares them. The semantic formalization is based on mapping the studied constructs to a basic UML layer which have a previous formal definition in the literature. Furthermore, the ontological analysis developed here is based on a formal theory of relations which is part of the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Object Management Group: OMG Unified Modeling Language (OMG UML), Superstructure, V2.3 (formal/May 5, 2010) (2010)
Batra, D., Hoffler, J.A., Bostrom, R.P.: Comparing representations with relational and EER models. Communications of the ACM 33, 126–139 (1990)
Rumbaugh, J., Jacobson, I., Booch, G.: The unified modeling language reference manual, 2nd edn. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2005)
Stevens, P.: On the interpretation of binary associations in the Unified Modelling Language. Software and Systems Modeling 1, 68–79 (2002)
Szlenk, M.: Formal Semantics and Reasoning about UML Class Diagram. In: DEPCOS-RELCOMEX, pp. 51–59. IEEE Computer Society, Los Alamitos (2004)
Kleppe, A., Rensink, A.: On a Graph-Based Semantics for UML Class and Object Diagrams. Electronic Communications of the EASST 10 (2008)
Gogolla, M., Richters, M.: Expressing UML Class Diagrams Properties with OCL. In: Clark, A., Warmer, J. (eds.) Object Modeling with the OCL. LNCS, vol. 2263, pp. 85–114. Springer, Heidelberg (2002)
Object Management Group: Object Constraint Language (OCL), Version 2.2. Available Specification (formal/February 1, 2010) (2010)
Richters, M., Gogolla, M.: On Formalizing the UML Object Constraint Language OCL. In: Ling, T.-W., Ram, S., Li Lee, M. (eds.) ER 1998. LNCS, vol. 1507, pp. 449–464. Springer, Heidelberg (1998)
Alanen, M., Porres, I.: Basic Operations over Models Containing Subset and Union Properties. In: Wang, J., Whittle, J., Harel, D., Reggio, G. (eds.) MoDELS 2006. LNCS, vol. 4199, pp. 469–483. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Amelunxen, C., Schürr, A.: Formalising model transformation rules for UML/MOF 2. IET Software 2, 204–222 (2008)
Olivé, A.: Conceptual modeling of information systems. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)
Nieto, P., Costal, D., Gómez, C.: Enhancing the semantics of UML association redefinition. Data Knowl. Eng. 70, 182–207 (2011)
Guizzardi, G., Wagner, G.: What’s in a Relationship: An Ontological Analysis. In: Li, Q., Spaccapietra, S., Yu, E., Olivé, A. (eds.) ER 2008. LNCS, vol. 5231, pp. 83–97. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Guizzardi, G.: Ontological Foundations for Structural Conceptual Models. Universal Press, The Netherlands (2005); ISBN 90-75176-81-3
Heller, B., Herre, H.: Ontological Categories in GOL. Axiomathes 14, 71–90 (2004)
Bock, C., Odell, J.: A More Complete Model of Relations and Their Implementation: Relations as Object Types. Journal of Object-Oriented Programming 10(3) (1997)
Gurr, C.A.: Effective Diagrammatic Communication: Syntatic, Semantic and Pragmatic Issues. Journal of Visual Languages and Computing 10, 317–342 (1999)
Milicev, D.: Model-Driven Development with Executable UML. Wiley Pub. Inc., Chichester (2009)
Costal, D., Gómez, C.: On the Use of Association Redefinition in UML Class Diagrams. In: Embley, D.W., Olivé, A., Ram, S. (eds.) ER 2006. LNCS, vol. 4215, pp. 513–527. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)
Costal, D., Olivé, À., Teniente, E.: Relationship Type Refinement in Conceptual Models with Multiple Classification. In: Kunii, H.S., Jajodia, S., Sølvberg, A. (eds.) ER 2001. LNCS, vol. 2224, pp. 397–411. Springer, Heidelberg (2001)
Bildhauer, D.: On the Relationships Between Subsetting, Redefinition and Association Sepecialization. In: DB&IS 2010 (2010)
Evermann, J.: The Association Construct in Conceptual Modelling – An Analysis Using the Bunge Ontological Model. In: Pastor, Ó., Falcão e Cunha, J. (eds.) CAiSE 2005. LNCS, vol. 3520, pp. 33–47. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)
Costal, D., Gómez, C., Guizzardi, G.: On the Meanings of Subsetting, Specialization and Redefinition in UML, Technical Report (2011), http://hdl.handle.net/2117/12827
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Costal, D., Gómez, C., Guizzardi, G. (2011). Formal Semantics and Ontological Analysis for Understanding Subsetting, Specialization and Redefinition of Associations in UML. In: Jeusfeld, M., Delcambre, L., Ling, TW. (eds) Conceptual Modeling – ER 2011. ER 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6998. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24606-7_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24606-7_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-24605-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-24606-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)