Model difference representation

As a software engineering paradigm, Model-Driven Software Engineering (MDSE) is the modern day style of software development which supports well-suited abstraction concepts to software development activities. MDSE brings several main advantages such as a productivity boost, models become a single point of truth. Software models (e. g., in UML) are the key artifacts in MDSE activities. Software models are well-suited for designing, developing and producing large-scale software projects. Models are constantly maintained undergoing diverse changes such as extensions, corrections, optimization, adaptations and other improvements. During the evolution process, models become large and complex raising a need for collaboration of several developers on shared models, i. e., Collaborative Modeling. This thesis introduces a Difference Language (DL) to the problem of model difference representation in collaborative modeling. The proposed DL is meta-model generic, operation-based, modeling tool generic, reusable, applicable, and extensible. DL is conceptually a family of domain-specific languages. Specific DLs for specific modeling languages can be generated from the meta-models of these modeling languages. Then, changes in instance models are described in terms of DL in modeling deltas. The approach also focuses on providing a catalog of supplementary services which allow for reusing DL-based modeling deltas. These supplementary services extend the application areas of DL. As the proof of the concept, the approach is applied to application areas such as concurrent collaborative modeling, sequential collaborative modeling and model history analysis applicationsThese applications are built by the specific orchestrations of the DL services.