Model-Driven Monitoring: An Application of Graph Transformation for Design by Contract

The model-driven development (MDD) approach for constructing software systems advocates a stepwise refinement and transformation process starting from high-level models to concrete program code. In contrast to numerous research efforts that try to generate executable function code from models, we propose a novel approach termed model-driven monitoring. Here, models are used to specify minimal requirements and are transformed into assertions on the code level for monitoring hand-coded programs during execution. We show how well-understood results from the graph transformation community can be deployed to support this model-driven monitoring approach. In particular, models in the form of visual contracts are defined by graph transitions with loose semantics, while the automatic transformation from models to JML assertions on the code level is defined by strict graph transformation rules. Both aspects are supported and realized by a dedicated Eclipse plug-in.