Using Operation-Based Multi-Queue SBC Process Algebra as a Metamodel for UML: Toward a Unified View of the System

Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general modeling language for model-driven (software) engineering (MDE) applications. The UML specification defines a set of language concepts that is used to model the (static) structure and (dynamic) behavior of a system. The UML concepts include (1) an abstract syntax that defines the language concepts and is described by a metamodel, and (2) a concrete syntax, or notation, that defines how the language concepts are represented and is described by a user model.Since UML is a multi-diagram approach, there are always some inconsistencies between different diagrams in the user model. To ensure and check the consistency, a metamodel that defines the abstract syntax of a modeling language needs to provide a unified semantic framework for defining consistency rules to impose constraints on the structure (i.e., objects) or behavior (i.e., activities) constructs. It is hoped that through this unified semantic framework, each diagram in the user model can be projected as a view of the metamodel.Unfortunately, most current UML metamodels do not have the ability to project each diagrams in the user model as a view of the metamodel. In this book, we develop the Operation-Based Multi-Queue Structure-Behavior Coalescence Process Algebra (O-M-SBC-PA) as the metamodel of UML. In O-M-SBC-PA, each diagram in the user model will be projected as a view of the metamodel. Therefore, we claim that O-M-SBC-PA genuinely provides a unified semantic framework to ensure model consistency for UML.