MLE 2021

About

The Modelling Language Engineering (MLE) workshop aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners working on language and modelling language engineering in the software-intensive systems domain. It is a meeting opportunity for Software Language Engineering (SLE) enthusiasts within the software modelling community.

Software-intensive systems are complex, driven by the need to integrate across multiple concerns. Consequently, the development of such systems requires the integration of different concerns and skills. These concerns can be covered by different domain-specific modelling languages, with specific concepts, technologies and abstraction levels. This multiplication of languages eases the development related to each individual specific concern but raises language and technology integration problems at the different stages of the software life cycle. To reason about the global system as a whole, it is necessary to explicitly describe the different kinds of relationships that exist between the different languages used in the development of a complex system. To support effective language integration, there is a pressing need to reify and classify these relationships, as well as the language interactions that the relationships enable. Equally, the proliferation of domain-specific modelling languages required increases the need for effective and efficient techniques for engineering languages and their support infrastructures (transformations, analysis tools, editors, execution infrastructure, debuggers, etc).

The MLE 2021 workshop aims to attract researchers and practitioners focusing on the language-engineering challenges in the development and collective use of multiple, executable domain-specific modelling languages for software development. We aim for submissions and discussions on approaches and case studies identifying and discussing well-defined problems in the integration of modelling languages, their engineering, and the efficient creation of executable domain-specific modelling languages. The goal is to facilitate deep discussions among the participants that lead to tangible new outcomes.

Keynote

Federico Tomassetti (Strumenta): Why is software important for Subject Matter Experts?

Abstract

Subject Matter Experts can benefit from software in different ways. We will take a look at some examples, and then see which obstacles are getting in the way. We will also present a Manifesto we created as part of a community effort to bring more attention to redefining the relation between Subject Matter Experts and software.

Vita

Federico Tomassetti is a Language Architect at Strumenta, a boutique consulting studio he co-founded. In his role at Strumenta, Federico is involved in different Language Engineering projects, ranging from the definition of Domain Specific Languages for different domains to the design of transpilers, editors, and interpreters. He got his PhD in Language Engineering between Italy and Germany. He speaks regularly at conferences and organizes the Strumenta Community, to hold discussions around Language Engineering

Program

(all times GMT+0)

9:00 Introduction
9:10 Keynote: Federico Tomassetti, Why is software important for Subject Matter Experts?
9:50 Nick DiGennaro, Matthew Stephan and Eric J. Rapos: SuMo: A Supportive Modeling Language Environment for Guided Model Transformations
10:20 Break
10:30 Jérôme Pfeiffer and Andreas Wortmann: Towards the Black-Box Aggregation of Language Components
11:00 Damiano Di Vincenzo, Juri Di Rocco, Davide Di Ruscio and Alfonso Pierantonio: Enhancing Syntax Expressiveness in Domain-specific Modeling
11:30 Discussion
12:00 Closing

Call for papers

Software-intensive systems are complicated, driven by the need to integrate across multiple concerns. Consequently, the development of such systems requires the integration of different concerns and skills. These concerns can be covered by different domain-specific modelling languages, with specific concepts, technologies and abstraction levels. This multiplication of languages eases the development related to each individual specific concern but raises language and technology integration problems at the different stages of the software life cycle. To reason about the global system as a whole, it is necessary to explicitly describe the different kinds of relationships that exist between the different languages used in its development. To support effective language integration, there is a pressing need to reify and classify these relationships, as well as the language interactions that the relationships enable. Equally, the proliferation of domain-specific modelling languages required increases the need for effective and efficient techniques for engineering languages and their support infrastructures (transformations, analysis tools, editors, execution infrastructure, debuggers, …).

The Modeling Language Engineering (MLE) workshop aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners working on modelling-language and software-language engineering. It is a meeting opportunity for Software Language Engineering (SLE) enthusiasts within the software-modelling community.

The topics of interest for MLE 2021 include:

Methodologies, languages, techniques, and methods for designing and implementing modeling languages
Composition, extension, and reuse of modeling languages and model execution tools
Heterogeneous modeling, simulation, and execution
Customization of modeling languages
Integration of modeling languages and programming languages
Semantics-aware model transformations and code generation
Scalability of model execution and execution-based model analysis
Execution of partial and underspecified models
Model execution in the presence of non-determinism and concurrency
Tracing model executions and analyzing model execution traces
Model execution tools for the (dynamic) validation, verification, and testing of systems (e.g., model animation, debugging, simulation, trace exploration, model checking, symbolic execution)
Live modelling and exploratory modelling techniques
Automation techniques for the development of modeling and model execution tools
Evolution in the context of executable modeling (e.g., evolution of executable modeling languages, execution semantics, executable models, model execution tools)
Verification of semantic conformance (e.g., among executable modeling languages, executable models, model execution tools)
Integration challenges for languages, from requirements to design, for analysis and simulation, during runtime, etc.
Case studies and experience reports on the successful or failed adoption of modeling in different application domains and application contexts
Surveys and benchmarks of different approaches for the development of modeling languages, model execution, and execution-based model analysis

Submissions describing practical and industrial experience related to the use of modeling languages are also encouraged, particularly in the following application domains: Cyber-Physical Systems, Smart Manufacturing, Industry 4.0; Internet of Services, Internet of Things; Smart City, Smart Building, Home automation; Smart and Learning systems.

Workshop Format

This full-day workshop will prioritise discussion over paper presentation. We plan to open with a keynote in the morning, followed by paper presentations at most up to the midday break. The afternoon will then be spent primarily in discussions inspired by topics raised by the keynotes and paper presentations. Where there is sufficient divergence in the topics raised, we will create break-out groups of participants interested in each sub-topic. The goal of these discussions is to identify commonalities and connections between different topics, support research networking, cross-pollination, and informal knowledge transfer. The final session of the workshop will be focused on summarising the key topics and ideas discussed at the workshop to help identify next steps that may be followed up by workshop participants. These workshop outcomes will be reflected in the workshop organisers’ introductory section for the joint MODELS workshop proceedings.

Submission

As contributions, we expect early research results on the workshop topics, descriptions of case studies, or descriptions of practical experience, opinions and related approaches. Each contribution must be described in a short paper of 5 pages or a full paper of 10 pages, both in the IEEE format, and each paper should describe problems, case studies, or solutions related to the topics of interest. Papers that describe use cases, or novel approaches can be accompanied by concrete artifacts, such as models (requirements, design, analysis, transformation, composition, etc.), stored in a public repository.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published or currently submitted for publication elsewhere. Papers will be evaluated following a standard peer-review process supported by our program committee. All submitted papers will be reviewed by at least 2 reviewers. We will use EasyChair as conference management system. We intend to have the accepted papers included in the joint MODELS workshop proceedings published by the IEEE.

All submissions must be submitted electronically in PDF format via Easychair.

Dates

Abstract submission deadline: July 15, 2021
Paper submission deadline: July 19, 2021
Notification of acceptance: August 14, 2021
Camera-ready deadline: August 21, 2021
Workshop: October 11, 2021

Organization Committee

Federico Ciccozzi (Mälardalen University, Västerås, Sweden)
Thomas Degueule (CNRS & LaBRI, Bordeaux, France)
Romina Eramo (University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy)
Sébastien Gérard (CEA LIST, Palaiseau, France)

Program Committee

Edouard Batot (University of Montreal)
Erwan Bousse (Université de Nantes / LS2N)
Stephanie Challita (Inria)
Marsha Chechik (University of Toronto)
Benoit Combemale (University of Rennes 1 & Inria)
Julien Deantoni (Inria)
Daniele Di Pompeo (University of L’Aquila)
Ralf Lämmel (Universität Koblenz, Facebook London)
Marjan Mernik (University of Maribor)
Gunter Mussbacher (McGill University)
Florian Noyrit (CEA LIST)
Richard Paige (McMaster University)
Nicolas Rouquette (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Bernhard Rumpe (RWTH Aachen University)
Safouan Taha (Centrale Supelec)
Michele Tucci (University of L’Aquila)
Hans Vangheluwe (University of Antwerp, McGill University)