An extensible component & connector architecture description infrastructure for multi-platform modeling

Efficient software engineering for complex systems requires abstraction, expertise from multiple domains, separation of concerns, and reuse. Domain experts are rarely software engineers and should be enabled to formulate solutions using their domain’s vocabulary instead of general-purpose programming languages (GPLs). The successful integration of domain-specific languages (DSLs) into a software system requires a separation of concerns between domain issues and integration issues while retaining a loose enough coupling to support reusing a DSL in different contexts. Component-based software engineering (CBSE) aims to increase software reuse and separation of concerns by encapsulating functionalities in components. This enables domain experts to develop solutions separated from integration concerns. Usually components are artifacts of GPLs, which gives rise to accidental complexities [FR07] and ties these to specific target platforms. Model-driven engineering (MDE) abstracts from programming by lifting models to primary development artifacts. Models can be more abstract and better comprehensible by using domain vocabulary instead of a GPL. Furthermore, they can be platform-independent and translated into GPLs for different target platforms. Component & connector (C&C) architecture description languages (ADLs) combine CBSE and MDE to enable composition of software architectures from component models. Such models define stable interfaces required to separate domain concerns from integration concerns. They can also employ the most appropriate DSLs to describe component behavior and support translation into GPL artifacts specific to different target platforms. Current research in MDE with ADLs focuses on structural modeling and requires component behavior either in terms of GPL artifacts or fixed component behavior languages. The former gives rise to accidental complexities, the latter demands that domain experts learn modeling languages foreign to their domain.This thesis presents concepts for engineering complex software systems with exchangeable component behavior languages that enable contribution of domains experts using the most appropriate DSLs. The concepts are realized in a software architecture modeling infrastructure that comprises multiple modeling languages to develop applications based on C&C software architectures with exchangeable component behavior languages. It supports model-to-model transformations from platform-independent to platform-specific software architectures and compositional code generation. With this, it enables domain experts to (re-)use the most appropriate component behavior languages and facilitates composition of domain solutions through encapsulation in components. It also enables reusing a single platform-independent software architecture with multiple platforms. To this effect, it combines results from software language engineering, model transformations, and code generator development to C&C ADLs. The main contributions of this thesis are: - Concepts to integrate domain-specific languages into component & connector software architectures to reduce accidental complexities, separate concerns, and facilitate their reuse. - Methodical guidance to transform platform-independent into platform-specific architectures minor effort to increase reuse of components and architectures. - Concepts of reusable compositional code generators for specific system aspects. - A family of modeling languages to support architecture development with exchangeable behavior DSLs. - A model-driven infrastructure, based on an extensible component & connector architecture description language that realizes these concepts. - An evaluation of presented concepts in multiple contexts. Employing these methodologies facilitates engineering of complex software systems by abstracting from programming issues, separating concerns, and reusing components, domain-specific languages, as well as code generators