Clafer Compiler 0.5.0 Released

by Michał Antkiewicz, Jan 31, 2018

This release contains only the Clafer compiler 0.5.0, which now includes support for modeling behavior. The release does not include reasoning capability; for structural modeling and reasoning keep using the previous release 0.4.5.

Binary builds are available from Clafer Tools - Binary Distributions.

Clafer compiler, release pull request (0.5.0).

• support for behavioral modeling,
• ability to compile, desugar, and render to HTML behavioral models,
• test suite of behavioral models,
• experimental Alloy code generator,
• compatibility with GHC 8.2.2.

The Clafer model wiki is currently running Clafer 0.5.0.

Best paper award for SoSyM 2017

by Michał Antkiewicz, Sep 22, 2017

Our paper "Synthesis and exploration of multi-level, multi-perspective architectures of automotive embedded systems" published in the Software and Systems Modeling journal has won one of the six best paper awards for year 2017.

Congratulations to our students Jordan Ross, Jimmy Liang, and Alexandr Murashkin!

The work presented in the paper was Jordan's master's thesis work based on previous master's thesis work by Alexandr. Jimmy made it all possible by contributing chocosolver, the scalable Clafer backend.

Clafer Tutorial at CBSOFT'17

by Michał Antkiewicz, Sep 18, 2017

Today, prof. Andrzej Wąsowski (IT University of Copenhagen) delivered a 3.5h tutorial entitled "Domain Modeling and Variability Modeling in Clafer" at CBSOFT'17, Fortaleza, Brazil.

The tutorial introduced the Clafer language and the participants used the online Clafer tools to write and analyze their models.

Abstract

Variability Modeling is a key activity in implementing Software Product Lines and highly configurable systems. Clafer is a small language for domain modeling with excellent support for variability modeling.  In this tutorial, we will introduce the basics of variability modeling and the basics of the  Clafer language.  Most of the tutorial will be interactive. The participants will use online Clafer tools to create basic models and analyze them, including consistency checking of models, and finding optimal configurations. Time permitting, we will discuss extensions of Clafer beyond structural domain modeling.

Behavioral Clafer

by Michał Antkiewicz, Mar 21, 2017

Behavioral Clafer was finally merged into develop, which means it will be part of the next release: 0.5.0.

That is a huge step for Clafer because it adds capability of modeling how the structures evolve over time. In that context, all possible instances of a static Clafer model can be considered as all possible snapshots (statespace) of a dynamic model. Also, the constraints in a static model can be considered as global invariants in a dynamic model.

The Clafer Model Wiki and the Clafer Tools (Visualizer, Configurator, and IDE) have been updated to use the 0.5.0 version; however, there is currently no reasoning support for the behavioral constructs. The models can only be compiled, desugared, and rendered to HTML.

We added two example models to showcase the behavioural modeling style:

• Simplified Web Socket Protocol - a simple model showcasing state modeling, trace specification, and the intended traces.
• Power Window - a complex model showcasing modeling structure and behaviour with variability: feature modeling, component modeling, statemachine modeling, variability in behaviour using alphabet variability, inheritance, and strategy pattern, and (safety) properties.

Clafer, ClaferIG, ClaferWiki 0.4.5 Released

by Michał Antkiewicz, Mar 13, 2017

This is mainly a maintenance release.


Clafer compiler, release pull request (0.4.5).

• compatibility with GHC 8.0.2,
• fixed an issue with references to singleton clafers in Choco generator.

Alloy-based instance generator, release pull request (0.4.5).

• compatibility with GHC 8.0.2,
• compatibility with clafer-0.4.5.

Claferwiki, release pull request (0.4.5).

• compatibility with GHC 8.0.2,
• compatibility with clafer-0.4.5 and the latest gitit-0.12.2.1

ClaferToolsST, release commit (0.4.5).

• updated Package Control installation instructions for the latest SublimeText3.

All other tools work with 0.4.5.

ClaferMPS: Modeling and Optimizing Automotive Electric/Electronic Architectures Using Domain-Specific Languages

by Michał Antkiewicz, Jan 23, 2017

Eldar Khalilov's Masters thesis about ClaferMPS is now available for download:

ClaferMPS: Modeling and Optimizing Automotive Electric/Electronic Architectures Using Domain-Specific Languages

The implementation is open-source in the following two projects:

• ClaferMPS
• Meta-Programming System support for ROS messages

Clafer Tools 0.4.4 Released

by Michał Antkiewicz, Sep 19, 2016

This is a simultaneous release of all Clafer Tools.

Binary builds are available from Clafer Tools - Binary Distributions.

Clafer compiler, release pull request (0.4.4).

• compatibility with GHC 8.0.1,
• added support for nested abstract clafers to Choco generator,
• fixed building with latest Alex and Happy,
• fixed an issue with setting references with a union, #49,
• add the synthetic "root", #57,
• added partial support for `parent` of top-level abstract clafers (the model now compiles but the generators must be fixed), #84.

Alloy-based instance generator, release pull request (0.4.4).

• compatibility with GHC 8.0.1.

Choco-based instance generator and multi-objective optimizer, release pull request (0.4.4).

• a massive update of 249 commits and 460 files changed!
• ported to the latest Choco version 4.0,
• added support for reference refinement, 
• improved support for nested abstract clafers: issues #23, #29, #30, #31.
• many performance improvements,
• implemented constructive disjunction optimization.

Claferwiki, release pull request (0.4.4).

• compatibility with GHC 8.0.1,
• compatibility with clafer-0.4.4 and the latest gitit-0.12.1.1

ClaferToolsUICommonPlatform, release pull request (0.4.4).

• fixed FQ matrix (fixed sorting, fixed references)
• fixed Clafer API

ClaferMOOVisualizer, release pull request (0.4.4).

• minor fixes

ClaferConfigurator, release diff (0.4.4).

ClaferIDE, release diff (0.4.4).

ClaferToolsST, release diff (0.4.4).

• updated version numbers and links.

ClaferMPS, release pull request (0.4.4).

• added ability to extend the reference model with arbitrary clafers and constraints
• added ability to add constraints to quality attributes
• fixed quality table

Synthesis and Exploration of Multi-Level, Multi-Perspective Architectures of Automotive Embedded System

by Michał Antkiewicz, Aug 16, 2016

Jordan Ross' Masters thesis about using Clafer tools for synthesis and exploration of automotive architectures is now available for download:

Synthesis and Exploration of Multi-Level, Multi-Perspective Architectures of Automotive Embedded System

The models created in that work are available in GitHub repository ClaferCaseStudies.

Preprint of the ClaferMPS paper is available

by Michał Antkiewicz, Aug 01, 2016

The preprint of the paper 

E. Khalilov, J. Ross, M. Antkiewicz, M. Voelter, and K. Czarnecki, "Modeling and Optimizing Automotive Electric/Electronic (E/E) Architectures: Towards Making Clafer Accessible to Practitioners", ISoLA, 2016

is available for download.

The paper describes features offered by the implementation of Clafer in JetBrains' Meta Programming System (MPS) and how it was used for modeling automotive E/E architectures. 

The paper reflects ClaferMPS version 0.4.3. We are going to release ClaferMPS 0.4.4 soon, which adds exciting new features.

Technical Report: Case Studies on E/E Architectures for Power Window and Central Door Locks Systems

by Michał Antkiewicz, June 23, 2016

Today, we published the final version of the technical report "Case Studies on E/E Architectures for Power Window and Central Door Locks Systems". The report contains:

• An informal introduction to Clafer with sample outputs from the instance generator
• Reference Model for E/E System Architecture for early design exploration including layers for feature model, functional analysis architecture, hardware design architecture (including communication and power topologies), and deployment.
• Three case studies with lots of variability and many quality attributes (cost, mass, end-to-end latency):
  
• Single door power window architecture
• Two door power window architecture based on a generalized single door architecture
• Central door locks architecture with remote key access and passive key entry
• A set of techniques for modeling complex systems in Clafer

The appendices contain

• Appendix A Reference Model (148 lines)
• Appendix B Generalized Single-Door Power Window (216 lines)
• Appendix C Two-Door Power Window (184 lines)
• Appendix D Central Door Locks (801 lines)

For source code repositories and more information see the previous post.