(FC-Devel) Re: Domain translation (was Re: Concept Oriented Design...)

[Duane Griffin <duane.griffin@paradigm.co.nz>]

Hi all, sorry for the long absence - work has been insane recently :(

Ken Boyer wrote:
> 
> >>For every domain we should have a group of diagrams.
> >>I think that the most important feature will be to generate a set of
> >>diagrams for the Implementation Domain when given a set of Diagrams for
> >>the Solution Domain.
> >>If we can come up with an algorithm to transform between Problem Domain
> >>and Solution Domain it will be great.
> 
> Perhaps we should allow for a language to be used to develop and
> customize this algorithm. Whatever language we use to develop this
> tool can be used to add these extensions. We just need to make the
> graphical language, etc. easy to manipulate and transform. I just
> don't think we can come up with a universal algorithm to accomplish
> these transformations.

I would suggest that in addition to providing a language we also provide hooks
by way of an API, protocol, or IDL definition (first and third get my vote) to
allow people to use any language to define a mapping between any two domains.
I certainly agree with Ken when he says there won't be a universal algorithm
for transformation between problem and solution domains.

> >>Also, we should have :
> >>    Generalizing Algorithm - will be used to move from Detailed Level to
> >>Top Level.
> >>    Specifying Algorithm - will be used to move from Top Level to
> >>Detailed Level.

I presume that we would need a specific algorithm to translate between each
pair of domains?

> >>A note about development process: I think that we should generate a
> >>first proto-type which can do Conceptual Graphs,
> >>model our proto-type with that tool and continue our development with
> >>our tool.

I suggest adding a conceptual graphs diagram layer to Argo. This would seem
like a good first step, and would be a lot easier than building a tool from
scratch.

> By "check our tool", I assume that we would need some UML rules-checking
> built-in. This is another good feature to have at an early point in
> development.

The Argo tool's critics come to mind (see
http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/arch/uml/features.html#critics).

Cheers,
Duane.

-- 
Duane Griffin
Paradigm Technology Ltd
Phone +64 4 4951000