Comparing two Implementations of an Approach for Managing Variability in Product Line Construction Using the GMF and GME Frameworks

In this paper, we present a comparison of two implementations of our proposed MDA approach for managing variability in a software product line. The implementations correspond to two representative frameworks based on the Model Driven Engineering (MDE) principles. These frameworks are the Graphical Modeling Framework (GMF) and the Generic Model Environment (GME). We built the core assets of the product line and we generated applications using the two different frameworks. The core assets that we built are: feature models, metamodels, mapping models, and three different types of transformation rules. We built the transformation rules using two different languages: the ATLAS Transformation Language (ATL) in the context of GMF and, the Embedded Constraint Language (ECL) in GME.