Pattern-based refinement schemas for design knowledge transfer

摘要

The transition from high-level to low-level design is a labour-intensive and time-consuming activity since it involves many iterations over design models to obtain a well-designed system. Moreover, it requires the knowledge and expertise of experienced developers. Design patterns provide proven design knowledge by capturing successful solutions to recurring problems which arise when building software systems. To transfer this design knowledge into detailed design, methodological support is needed. We provide such support with pattern-based refinement schemas.In this paper, we present a pattern-based approach to the correct stepwise refinement of UML static and dynamic design models by application of refinement schemas. A refinement schema is composed of two compartments. The first compartment describes the abstract model of the design, whereas the second compartment shows its corresponding detailed model after transformation and instantiation of one design pattern. We also propose a number of smaller transformations called micro-refinements whose correctness is proven. These micro-refinements can be composed into sequences to produce correct refinement schemas. Our approach will allow for the construction of intelligent CASE tools that provide automatic support for the selection, management, and application of design patterns for the refinement of design models. Such tool support will enable effective design knowledge transfer.