Ontology-mediated Validation of Software Models

Abstract

When errors in software modelling activities propagate to later phases of software development lifecycle, they become costlier to fix and lower the qual-ity of the final product. Early validation of software models can prevent rework and incorrect development non-compliant with client's specification. In this paper we advocate the use of ontologies to validate and improve the quality of software models as they are being developed, at the same time bridging the traditional gap between developers and clients. We propose a general ontology-mediated process to validate software models that can be adapted in a broad range of software development projects. We illustrate this for Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) develop-ment providing early evidence of the soundness of our approach. We successfully validate and improve the quality of MAS models for a reallife development pro-ject, illustrating the ontology-mediated models validation in a commercial setting. Disciplines Physical Sciences and Mathematics Publication DetailsLopez-Lorca, A., Beydoun, G., Sterling, L. & Miller, T. (2011 Abstract When errors in software modelling activities propagate to later phases of software development lifecycle, they become costlier to fix and lower the quality of the final product. Early validation of software models can prevent rework and incorrect development non-compliant with client's specification. In this paper we advocate the use of ontologies to validate and improve the quality of software models as they are being developed, at the same time bridging the traditional gap between developers and clients. We propose a general ontology-mediated process to validate software models that can be adapted in a broad range of software development projects. We illustrate this for Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) development providing early evidence of the soundness of our approach. We successfully validate and improve the quality of MAS models for a real-life development project, illustrating the ontology-mediated models validation in a commercial setting.

Agent-Based Knowledge Analysis Framework in Disaster Management

“…Furthermore, in both AOA and the context of DM, there are agents driven by local goals that need to interact towards a system goal. Such agents have specified roles and in many instances are situated so they can respond in real time (Lopez-Lorca et al, 2011). Not surprisingly, there have been various attempts recently to use AOA to support DM (Aldewereld et al, 2011;García-Magariño & Gutiérrez, 2013;Padgham et al, 2014;Scerri et al, 2012).…”

Identification of ontologies to support information systems development

“…They have been advocated as intermediary elements to support the development of analysis models [5]. A methodology-independent technique is presented to use ontologies in support of the validation processes in [11] to facilitate the creation of models for inexperienced modellers or to assist more experienced ones detecting and resolving errors.…”