Model Transformations? Transformation Models!

Much of the current work on model transformations seems essentially operational and executable in nature. Executable descriptions are necessary from the point of view of implementation. But from a conceptual point of view, transformations can also be viewed as descriptive models by stating only the properties a transformation has to fulfill and by omitting execution details. This contribution discusses the view that model transformations can be abstracted as being transformation models. As a simple example for a transformation model, the well-known transformation from the Entity-Relationship model to the Relational model is shown. A transformation model in this contribution is nothing more than an ordinary, simple model, i.e., a UML/MOF class diagram together with OCL constraints. A transformation model may transport syntax and semantics of the described domain. The contribution thus covers two views on transformations: An operational model transformation view and a descriptive transformation model view.