MISE 17 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Theme and Goals

Models have long been used in the development of complex systems. Their use is becoming more prevalent in the software development domain as modeling techniques and tools mature. Despite this, there are many challenging issues that the modeling research community must address if software modeling practices are to become mainstream. Furthermore software and systems become more intertwined and the modeling techniques used for systems engineering need to be harmonized with software models.

The primary goal of this workshop is to foster exchange of innovative ideas on the use of models in software engineering. Another goal of this workshop is to further promote cross-fertilization between the model-driven engineering (MDE) communities (e.g., MODELS) and software-engineering communities. Previous versions of the workshop showed that while there is great interest in collaborations and discussions across these communities, there are differences in terminologies and concepts that need to be harmonized for effective communication to take place. To ensure that discussions at the 2015 workshop progress beyond the basic alignment of concepts, potential workshop participants will be encouraged to familiarize themselves with the papers presented at the previous and current MiSE workshop in the calls for papers and for participation.

The workshop provides a forum for discussing and critically analyzing modeling techniques with respect to their purposes in software engineering processes. Participants engage in the exchange of innovative technical ideas and experiences related to modeling, including modeling notations, abstraction techniques, modeling strategies, and use of models in development activities, including system configuration, system simulation, testing, and product line variability management.

The purpose of a model and the domain it describes determine the types of abstractions that are useful and the degree of formality and precision needed. We identify the following major purposes of software modeling:

Exploration: Models are used to explore and learn about the problem to be solved, where the “problem” can be, for example, requirements identification, system specification, system or component design, complex protocol or algorithm design. Of particular interest is the use of models to enable “what-if?” analysis and prognostics (e.g., prediction), such as via models of ‘big data’.

Communication: Communication models are used to document software decisions (e.g., requirements, designs, and deployment decisions), or to enable discussion, conversation and negotiation between different stakeholder groups with different perspectives, vocabularies and needs.. Support for downstream activities: We use software models to answer questions or check properties (e.g., correctness, fitness of use) of the modeled artifact, to generate other artifacts, or to configure existing systems.

Configurability and adaptation: We use models at runtime to configure the system and adapt it to changed needs of the users. A model of the environment also allows a system to capture its knowledge about the context it controls or communicates with.

Call for papers

The purpose of this 2-day workshop is to promote the use of models in the engineering of software systems. In particular, we are interested in the exchange of innovative technical ideas and experiences related to modeling. Engineers have used models to effectively manage complexity for centuries, and there is a growing body of work on the use of models to manage inherent problem and solution complexity in software development. The use of software models will become more prevalent as methodologies and tools that manipulate models at various levels of abstraction become available.

Workshop activities will focus on analyzing successful applications of software-modeling techniques to gain insights into challenging modeling problems, including: (1) identifying, describing, and using appropriate abstractions, (2) supporting incremental, iterative development through the use of appropriate model composition, transformation and other model manipulation operators, and (3) automated analysis of possibly large, possibly incomplete models to determine the presence or absence of desired and undesired properties. Topics of interest include:

• Modeling notations and tools
• Metamodeling
• Abstractions and modeling methodologies
• Model-based analysis and synthesis
• Model transformation and composition
• Model evaluation
• Model management
• Extracting models from software artifacts (e.g., program system or program understanding)
• Use of models for downstream activities (e.g., generating test cases)
• Modeling the system environment
• Models at runtime (e.g., for software adaptation)
• Models for “what-if?” analysis and prognostics
• Empirical studies
• Domain-specific modeling
• Variability management using models
• Model reuse
• Further uses of modeling

Prospective participants are invited to submit a 4-6 page position or technical paper. Workshop papers must follow the ICSE 2015 Format and Submission Guideline. All submissions will be reviewed by members of the program committee and the organizing committee for quality and relevance. Accepted papers will become part of the workshop proceedings. EasyChair will be used to manage the submission review process.

Important Next Dates

• New paper submission deadline: January 23, 2015

• Author notifications: February 18, 2015

• Camera-ready copies: February 27, 2015

Organizing Committee

• Jeff Gray(primary contact), University of Alabama, USA
• Marsha Chechik, University of Toronto, Canada
• Vinay Kulkarni, Tata Consultancy Services Innovation Labs, Pune, India
• Richard Paige, University of York, UK

Program Committee

• Robert Baillargeon, Sodius, East Amherst, NY, USA
• Manfred Broy, Technical University of Munich, Germany
• Marsha Chechik, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
• Betty Cheng, Michigan State University, USA
• Krzysztof Czarnecki, University of Waterloo, Canada
• Juergen Dingel, Queen's University, Canada
• Geri Georg, Colorado State University, USA
• Jeff Gray, University of Alabama, USA
• Mats Heimdahl, University of Minnesota, USA
• Michael Jackson, The Open University, UK
• Jeff Kramer, Imperial College London, UK
• Richard Paige, University of York, UK
• Alfonso Pierantonio, University of L’Aquila, Italy
• Sebastian Uchitel, Imperial College London and Universidad de Buenos Aires, UK /Argentina
• Steffen Zschaler, King's College, UK

Further MiSE Information

• MISE Main Page
• MISE Steering Committee