Transformation Tool Composition
Stc
Date: 2005 03 17
Time: 11:45
Room: CGN room C004
Title: Transformation Tool Composition
Abstract
A component-based approach to the construction of transformation
systems is common in the Stratego/XT environment. Transformation tools
implemented with Stratego exchange their data in the ATerm format
which makes them good candidates for data-flow composition. XT
provides a component model for the componentization of transformations
and a bundle of transformation tools to support the construction of
entire source to source transformations with components such as a
generic parser and pretty printer. The XT component model only
describes to which standard a transformation component should be
developed, not how they should be composed. For this purpose, a
framework for transformation tool composition (XTC) has been
developed. This prototype provides support for run-time composition of
transformation components adhering to the XT component model.
For this thesis, the prototype was evaluated. The use of new concepts
and techniques led to a new XTC component framework. The new
framework relies on a more formal definition of components than the
prototype by using Transformation Tool Definitions (XTD) which allows
the framework to make decisions based upon component meta-information
instead of assumptions. The new framework supports the discovery and
invocation of components with alternative component models through a
component dispatch mechanism. Contract validation, based upon the
grammars as contracts paradigm of the XT component model, has been
implemented generically as a component dispatch wrapper, and the use
of existing dispatchable transformation components as transformation
services has been made possible through an XT service provider.
