Aspect-oriented Concrete Syntax Definition for Deep Modeling Languages

Multi-level modeling tools provide inherent support for modeling domain scenarios with multiple classification levels. However, as the success of domain-specific modeling tools illustrates users increasingly expect to be able to visualize models using domain-specific languages. It is relatively straightforward to support this using traditional “two-level” modeling technologies, but many of the benefits of multi-level modeling would be lost. For example, in a multi-level context it is not only desirable to define concrete syntax that is applicable over more than just one instantiation level, it should also be possible to customize the visualization of model elements as they become more specialized over instantiation and inheritance levels. In this paper we present an approach for multi-level concrete syntax definition which addresses this need by using aspect-oriented principles to parametrize the visualization associated with model elements. We also explain how this is implemented in the Melanee deep modeling tool.