Model-driven techniques to enhance Architectural Languages Interoperability

The current practice of software architecture modeling and analysis would benefit of using different architectural languages, each specialized on a particular view and each enabling specific analysis. Thus, it is fundamental to pursue architectural language interoperability. An approach for enabling interoperability consists in defining a transformation from each single notation to a pivot language, and vice versa. When the pivot assumes the form of a small and abstract kernel, extension mechanisms are required to compensate the loss of information. The aim of this paper is to enhance architectural languages interoperability by means of hierarchies of pivot languages obtained by systematically extending a root pivot language. Model-driven techniques are employed to support the creation and the management of such hierarchies and to realize the interoperability by means of model transformations. Even though the approach is applied to the software architecture domain, it is completely general.