On the Tool Chain for Model Driven Architecture and Model Driven Development: Drawing a Distinction

Model Driven Architecture (MDA), introduced by Object Management Group in 2001, is the primary example of Model Driven Development (MDD), aimed to satisfy the needs of the modern software industry. The main idea of MDA is to define software solution in a form of formal models using a customized set of tools, enforcing precise design and architectural patterns. In order to produce deployable software artifacts, a set of model transformations is applied to the resulting models. Meanwhile, many toolsets have been proposed to support the principles of MDA. Some of these correspond with OMG standards, others are sharing similar approaches and techniques. This paper discusses several aspects of MDA and MDD, offering a set of components to define a tool chain, which is purposed to satisfy all of the requirements of MDA. The components and relevant tools are also considered: they are depicted into MDA/MDD framework at different levels of abstraction