Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T20:53:32.125Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The concepts of model in information systems engineering: a proposal for an ontology of models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2009

Diana M. Sánchez ,
José María Cavero  and
Esperanza Marcos
Diana M. Sánchez
Affiliation:
Kybele Research Group, Department of Computing Languages and Systems II, School of Computer Science Engineering, Rey Juan Carlos University, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, 28933 Madrid, Spain. e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
José María Cavero
Affiliation:
Kybele Research Group, Department of Computing Languages and Systems II, School of Computer Science Engineering, Rey Juan Carlos University, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, 28933 Madrid, Spain. e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Esperanza Marcos
Affiliation:
Kybele Research Group, Department of Computing Languages and Systems II, School of Computer Science Engineering, Rey Juan Carlos University, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, 28933 Madrid, Spain. e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Modelling is one of the most frequent tasks in the area of information systems (ISs), with models such as schemata, ontologies, patterns and architectures forming the bases for their creation. Very often, however, the difference between these types of models is not clear and causes confusion and erratic use of the terms. The aim of this paper is to clarify the concept of model through a study of some of the more common ones used in ISs. This proposal is presented through an ontology, where we show how we conceptualize models according to their role in the development of an IS: the model understood as the representation of a domain or as a reality serving as an example.

Type
Article
Information
The Knowledge Engineering Review , Volume 24 , Special Issue 1: Software and system engineering – part 1 , March 2009 , pp. 5 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, C. 1979. The Timeless Way of Building. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Atkinson, C.Kühne, T. 2003. Model-driven development: a metamodeling foundation. IEEE Software 20(5), 36–41.Google Scholar
Bézivin, J. 2005. On the unification power of models. Software and System Modeling 4(2), 171–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booch, G., Rumbaugh, J.Jacobson, I. 1998. The Unified Modeling Language User Guide. Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Cañete Valdeón, J. M., Galán Morillo, J. G., Toro, M. 2004. Some problems of current modelling languages that obstruct to obtain models as instruments. In Proceedings of the IX Spanish Conference on Software Engineering and Databases (JISBD’2004). Málaga, Spain.Google Scholar
Clements, P. C. 1996. A survey of architecture description languages. In IWSSD ’96: Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Software Specification and Design. Schloss Velen, Germany, 16.Google Scholar
Conesa, J., Palop, X. d., Olivé, A. 2003. Building conceptual schemas by refining general ontologies. In 14th International Workshop on Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA’03), 693–702.Google Scholar
Cook, S. 2004. Domain-specific modeling and model driven architecture. MDA Journal, January, 2–10.Google Scholar
Date, C. J. 2003. An Introduction to Database Systems, 8th edn. Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
De Bruijn, J., Lausen, H., Krummenacher, R., Polleres, A., Predoiu, L.Kifer, M., et al. 2005. The Web Service Modeling Language (WSML). WSML final draft. DERI. http://www.wsmo.org/TR/d16/d16.1/v0.21/Google Scholar
Dittrich, K. R. 1994. Object-oriented data model concepts. In Advances in Object-oriented Database Systems. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Object-oriented Database Systems, 1993, Dogac, A., Özsu, M. T., Biliris, A. & Sellis, T. (eds). Springer, 30–45.Google Scholar
Elmasri, R.Navathe, S. B. 1994. Fundamentals of Database Systems, 2nd edn.Benjamin/Cummings.Google Scholar
Favré, J. 2004. Foundations of model (driven) (reverse) engineering: Models—episode I: stories of the fidus papyrus and of the solarus. In Language Engineering for Model-Driven Software Development. Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings 04101, Bézivin, J. & Heckel, R. (eds). Internationales Begegnungs- und Forschungszentrum für Informatik (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany. Available from http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2005/13Google Scholar
Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R.Vlissides, J. 1995. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-oriented Software. Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Genesereth, M. R.Nilsson, N. J. 1987. Logical Foundations of Artificial Intelligence. Morgan Kaufmann.Google Scholar
Gómez-Pérez, A., Corcho-García, O.Fernández-López, M. 2003. Ontological Engineering. Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.Google Scholar
Gruber, T. R. 1993. A translation approach to portable ontology specifications. Knowledge Acquisition 5(2), 199–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guarino, N. 1995. Formal ontology, conceptual analysis and knowledge representation. International Journal of Human-Computers Studies 43(5–6), 625–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hornby, A. S. 2000. In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English Edited by Sally Wehmeier, 6th edn., Wehmeier S. (ed.). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
IEEE. 2005. IEEE Std 1471-2000—Recommended Practice for Architectural Description of Software-intensive Systems. http://standards.ieee.org/reading/ieee/stdpublic/description/se/1471-2000desc.htmlGoogle Scholar
Ludewig, J. 2004. Models in software engineering—an introduction. Software and Systems Modeling 2, 5–14.Google Scholar
Marcos, E.Marcos, A. 2001. A philosophical approach to the concept of data model: is a data model, in fact, a model? Information Systems Frontiers 3(2), 267–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuinness, D. L.Harmelen, F. V. 2004. OWL Web Ontology Language Overview. http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-features/Google Scholar
Miller, J., Mukerji, J. 2003. MDA Guide Version 1.0.1. http://www.omg.org/docs/omg/03-06-01.pdfGoogle Scholar
OMG. 2002. The Object Management Group. Meta-Object Facility (MOF) Specification, version 1.4. http://www.omg.org/mof/Google Scholar
OMG. 2004. The Object Management Group. Object and Reference Model Subcommittee of the Architecture Board (ORMSC). A Proposal for an MDA Foundation Model. An ORMSC white paper. http://www.omg.org/docs/ormsc/05-04-01.pdfGoogle Scholar
OMG. 2005. The Object Management Group. Unified Modeling Language: Superstructure, version 2.0. http://www.omg.org/docs/formal/05-07-04.pdfGoogle Scholar
OMG. 2006. The Object Management Group. UML 2 Object Constraint Language Specification. http://www.omg.org/docs/ptc/03-10-14.pdfGoogle Scholar
Perry, D. E.Wolf, A. L. 1992. Foundations for the study of software architecture. ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes 17(4), 40–52.Google Scholar
Sánchez, D. M., Cavero, J. M.Marcos, E. 2005. An ontology about ontologies and models: a conceptual discussion. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the ONTOSE 2005. First International Workshop on Ontology, Conceptualizations and Epistemology for Software and Systems Engineering. Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain, 163. http://CEUR-WS.org/Vol-163/Google Scholar
Seidewitz, E. 2003. What models mean. IEEE Software 20(5), 26–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, M.Garlan, D. 1996. Software Architecture: Perspectives on an Emerging Discipline. Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Smolander, K. 2002. Four metaphors of architecture in software organizations: finding out the meaning of architecture in practice. ISESE ’02: Proceedings of the 2002 International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering.Google Scholar
Sommerville, I. 2001. Software Engineering, 6th edn. Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Studer, R., Benjamins, V. R.Fensel, D. 1998. Knowledge engineering: principles and methods. Data & Knowledge Engineering 25(1–2), 161–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tetlow, P., Pan, J. Z., Oberle, D., Wallace, E., Uschold, M.Kendall, E. 2006. Ontology Driven Architectures and Potential Uses of the Semantic Web in Systems and Software Engineering. http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/SE/ODA/Google Scholar
W3C. 2004a. Extensible Markup Language (XML) Schema. Architecture Domain. XML Working Group. http://www.w3.org/XML/SchemaGoogle Scholar
W3C. 2004b. Resource Description Framework (RDF). Technology and society domain. http://www.w3.org/RDF/Google Scholar