A Universal Metamodel and Its Dictionary [chapter]

Paolo Atzeni, Giorgio Gianforme, Paolo Cappellari
2009 Lecture Notes in Computer Science  
We discuss a universal metamodel aimed at the representation of schemas in a way that is at the same time model-independent (in the sense that it allows for a uniform representation of different data models) and model-aware (in the sense that it is possible to say to whether a schema is allowed for a data model). This metamodel can be the basis for the definition of a complete model-management system. Here we illustrate the details of the metamodel and the structure of a dictionary for its
more » ... sentation. Exemplifications of a concrete use of the dictionary are provided, by means of the representations of the main data models, such as relational, object-relational or XSD-based. Moreover, we demonstrate how set operators can be redefined with respect to our dictionary and easily applied on it. Finally, we show how such a dictionary can be exploited to automatically produce detailed descriptions of schema and data models, in a textual (i.e. XML) or visual (i.e. UML class diagram) way.
doi:10.1007/978-3-642-03722-1_2 fatcat:cpakjzu2z5efpg4aeve7qcnovq