A comparative look at model transformation languages

Model-driven development is an emerging area in software development that provides a way to express system requirements and architecture at a high level of abstraction through models. It involves using these models as the primary artifacts during the development process. One aspect that is holding back MDD from more wide-spread adoption is the lack of a well established and easy way of performing model to model (M2M) transformations. We propose to explore and compare popular M2M model transformation languages in existence: EMT , Kermeta, and ATL. Each of these languages support transformation of Ecore models within the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF). We attempt to implement the same transformation rule on identical meta models in each of these languages to achieve the appropriate transformed model. We provide our observations in using each tool to perform the transformation and comment on each language/tool’s expressive power, ease of use, and modularity. We conclude by noting that ATL is our language / tool of choice because it strikes a balance between ease of use and expressive power and still allows for modularity. We believe this, in conjunction with ATL’s role in the official Eclipse M2M project will lead to widespread use of ATL and, hopefully, a step forward in M2M transformations.