Episode 5: Model-Driven Software Development Pt. 1

Graphical Editors

Graphical modeling editors like GMF are transforming model-based development by simplifying the creation of domain-specific editors. Markus Völter highlights the GMF project, which generates graphical modeling editors from a meta model in Eclipse EMF. This approach allows developers to create tailored editors that express specific models without needing complex transformation languages.

What I need is small, tailored, specific editors to express my models. And that's where GMF is going to be a big, big win.

--- Markus Völter

This innovation addresses the need for functional, yet straightforward tools in modern software projects 1.

   

Tool Improvements

Improving software infrastructure could potentially reduce reliance on Model-Driven Software Development (MDSD) and generators. Eberhard Wolff questions whether enhancing platforms like the graphical editing framework could eliminate the need for MDSD. Markus Völter agrees that better platforms could reduce the necessity for generating code, especially for basic tasks.

Writing better platforms will certainly reduce the need for generating stuff, especially for those dump generators that just generated dump glue code.

--- Markus Völter

However, he notes that domain-specific needs still require generation, as platforms alone cannot address all architectural and domain-specific challenges 2.