Applications of graph transformation in tools for domain-specific modeling languages

The use of domain-specific languages (DSLs) has been proposed as an approach to cost-e ectively develop families of software systems in a restricted application domain. Domain-specific languages in combination with the accumulated knowledge and experience of previous implementations, can in turn be used to generate new applications with unique sets of requirements. For this reason, DSLs are considered to be an important approach for software reuse. However, the toolset supporting a particular domain-specific language is also domain-specific and is per definition not reusable. Therefore, creating and maintaining a DSL requires additional resources that could be even larger than the savings associated with using them. As a solution, di erent tool frameworks have been proposed to simplify and reduce the cost of developments of DSLs. Developers of tool support for DSLs need to instantiate, customize or configure the framework for a particular DSL. There are di erent approaches for this. An approach is to use an application programming interface (API) and to extend the basic framework using an imperative programming language. An example of a tools which is based on this approach is Eclipse GEF. Another approach is to configure the framework using declarative languages that are independent of the underlying framework implementation. We believe this second approach can bring important benefits as this brings focus to specifying what should the tool be like instead of writing a program specifying how the tool achieves this functionality. In this thesis we explore this second approach. We use graph transformation as the basic approach to customize a domain-specific modeling (DSM) tool framework. The contributions of this thesis includes a comparison of di erent approaches for defining, representing and interchanging software modeling languages and models and a tool architecture for an open domain-specific modeling framework that e ciently integrates several model transformation components and visual editors. We also present several specific algorithms and tool components for DSM framework. These include an approach for graph query based on region operators and the star operator and an approach for reconciling models and diagrams after executing model transformation programs. We exemplify our approach with two case studies MICAS and EFCO. In these studies we show how our experimental modeling tool framework has been used to define tool environments for domain-specific languages.

Developing an introductory object-oriented programming course

The state of the object-oriented programming course in Lappeenranta University of Technology had reached the point, where it required changes to provide better learning opportunities and thus the learning outcomes. Based on the student feedback the course was partially dated and ineffective. The components of the course were analysed and the ineffective elements were removed and new methods were introduced to improve the course. The major changes included the change from traditional teaching methods to reverse classroom method and the use of Java as the programming language. The changes were measured by the student feedback, lecturer’s observations and comparison to previous years. The feedback suggested that the changes were successful; the course received higher overall grade than before.

Ohjelmoinnin opetus peruskoulussa: toiminnallisuutta ja graafista ohjelmointikieltä hyödyntävien opetusmenetelmien vertailu

Ohjelmoinnin opettaminen yleissivistävänä oppiaineena on viime aikoina herättänyt kiinnostusta Suomessa ja muualla maailmassa. Esimerkiksi Suomen opetushallituksen määrittämien, vuonna 2016 käyttöön otettavien peruskoulun opintosuunnitelman perusteiden mukaan, ohjelmointitaitoja aletaan opettaa suomalaisissa peruskouluissa ensimmäiseltä luokalta alkaen. Ohjelmointia ei olla lisäämässä omaksi oppiaineekseen, vaan sen opetuksen on tarkoitus tapahtua muiden oppiaineiden, kuten matematiikan yhteydessä. Tämä tutkimus käsittelee yleissivistävää ohjelmoinnin opetusta yleisesti, käy läpi yleisimpiä haasteita ohjelmoinnin oppimisessa ja tarkastelee erilaisten opetusmenetelmien soveltuvuutta erityisesti nuorten oppilaiden opettamiseen. Tutkimusta varten toteutettiin verkkoympäristössä toimiva, noin 9–12-vuotiaille oppilaille suunnattu graafista ohjelmointikieltä ja visuaalisuutta tehokkaasti hyödyntävä oppimissovellus. Oppimissovelluksen avulla toteutettiin alakoulun neljänsien luokkien kanssa vertailututkimus, jossa graafisella ohjelmointikielellä tapahtuvan opetuksen toimivuutta vertailtiin toiseen opetusmenetelmään, jossa oppilaat tutustuivat ohjelmoinnin perusteisiin toiminnallisten leikkien avulla. Vertailututkimuksessa kahden neljännen luokan oppilaat suorittivat samankaltaisia, ohjelmoinnin peruskäsitteisiin liittyviä ohjelmointitehtäviä molemmilla opetus-menetelmillä. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää alakouluoppilaiden nykyistä ohjelmointiosaamista, sitä minkälaisen vastaanoton ohjelmoinnin opetus alakouluoppilailta saa, onko erilaisilla opetusmenetelmillä merkitystä opetuksen toteutuksen kannalta ja näkyykö eri opetusmenetelmillä opetettujen luokkien oppimistuloksissa eroja. Oppilaat suhtautuivat kumpaankin opetusmenetelmään myönteisesti, ja osoittivat kiinnostusta ohjelmoinnin opiskeluun. Sisällöllisesti oppitunneille oli varattu turhan paljon materiaalia, mutta esimerkiksi yhden keskeisimmän aiheen, eli toiston käsitteen oppimisessa aktiivisilla leikeillä harjoitellut luokka osoitti huomattavasti graafisella ohjelmointikielellä harjoitellutta luokkaa parempaa osaamista oppitunnin jälkeen. Ohjelmakoodin peräkkäisyyteen liittyvä osaaminen oli neljäsluokkalaisilla hyvin hallussa jo ennen ohjelmointiharjoituksia. Aiheeseen liittyvän taustatutkimuksen ja luokkien opettajien haastatteluiden perusteella havaittiin koulujen valmiuksien opetussuunnitelmauudistuksen mukaiseen ohjelmoinnin opettamiseen olevan vielä heikolla tasolla.

Equational Reasoning about Object-Oriented Programs

Formal verification of software can be an enormous task. This fact brought some software engineers to claim that formal verification is not feasible in practice. One possible method of supporting the verification process is a programming language that provides powerful abstraction mechanisms combined with intensive reuse of code. In this thesis we present a strongly typed functional object-oriented programming language. This language features type operators of arbitrary kind corresponding to so-called type protocols. Sub classing and inheritance is based on higher-order matching, i.e., utilizes type protocols as basic tool for reuse of code. We define the operational and axiomatic semantics of this language formally. The latter is the basis of the interactive proof assistant VOOP (Verified Object-Oriented Programs) that allows the user to prove equational properties of programs interactively.

Teaching programming to beginners in a massive open online course

The University of Reading’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “Begin Programming: Build your first mobile game” (#FLMobiGame) was offered in Autumn 2013 on the FutureLearn platform. This course used a simple Android game framework to present basic programming concepts to complete beginners. The course attracted wide interest from all age groups. The course presented opportunities and challenges to both participants and educators. While some participants had difficulties accessing content some others had trouble grasping the concepts and applying them in a real program. Managing forums was cumbersome with the limited facilities supported by the Beta-platform. A healthy community was formed around the course with the support of social media. The case study reported here is part of an ongoing research programme exploring participants’ MOOC engagement and experience using a grounded, ethnographical approach.

Quantitative characterization of multi-phase materials by digital image processing

An automatic image processing and analysis technique has been developed for quantitative characterization of multi-phase materials. For the development of this technique is used the Khoros system that offers the basic morphological tools and a flexible, visual programming language. These techniques are implemented in a highly user oriented image processing environment that allows the user to adapt each step of the processing to his special requirements.To illustrate the implementation and performance of this technique, images of two different materials are processed for microstructure characterization. The result is presented through the determination of volume fraction of the different phases or precipitates.

Educational Java applets get in power electronics labs

This paper presents Java applet programs for a WWW (world wide web)-HTML (hypertext markup language)-based multimedia course in basic power electronics circuits. These tools make use of the benefits of Java language to provide a dynamic and interactive approach to simulate steady-state idealized rectifiers (uncontrolled and controlled; single-phase and three-phase). In addition, this paper discusses the development and the use of the Java applet programs to assist the teaching of basics rectifier power electronics circuits, and to serve as a first design tool for basics power electronics circuits in the experiments of the laboratories. In order to validate the developed simulation applets, the results were confronted with results obtained from a well-know simulator package PSPICE. © 2005 IEEE.

Integrating interaction resources in the graphics clusters

This paper aims to describe the basic concepts and necessary for Java programs can invoke libraries of programming language C/C ++, through the JNA API. We used a library developed in C/C ++ called Glass [8], which offers a solution for viewing 3D graphics, using graphics clusters, reducing the cost of viewing. The purpose of the work is to interact with the humanoid developed using Java, which makes movements of LIBRAS language for the deaf, as Glass's, so that through this they can view the information using stereoscopic multi-view in full size. ©2010 IEEE.

Interface gráfica no contexto de teoria dos jogos sob a forma de Java Apples

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Desenvolvimento de um sistema informatizado para coleta, armazenamento e processamento dos dados referentes à cesta básica do Município de Botucatu -SP

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Inversão de dados sísmicos de reflexão a partir da curva do tempo de trânsito

A presente Dissertação de Mestrado tem como objetivo o estudo do problema de inversão sísmica baseada em refletores planos para arranjo fonte-comum (FC) e ponto-médiocomum (PMC). O modelo direto é descrito por camadas homogêneas, isotrópicas com interfaces plano-horizontais. O problema é relacionado ao empilhamento NMO baseado na otimização da função semblance, para seções PMC corrigidas de sobretempo normal (NMO). O estudo foi baseado em dois princípios. O primeiro princípio adotado foi de combinar dois grupos de métodos de inversão: um Método Global e um Método Local. O segundo princípio adotado foi o de cascata, segundo a teoria Wichert-Herglotz-Bateman, que estabelece que para conhecer uma camada inferior tem-se que conhecer primeiro a camada superior (dissecação). A aplicação do estudo é voltada à simulação sísmica de Bacia Sedimentar do Solimões e de Bacia Marinha para se obter uma distribuição local 1D de velocidades e espessuras para a subsuperfície em horizontes alvo. Sendo assim, limitamos a inversão entre 4 e 11 refletores, uma vez que na prática a indústria limita uma interpretação realizada apenas em número equivalente de 3 a 4 refletores principais. Ressalta-se que este modelo é aplicável como condição inicial ao imageamento de seções sísmicas em regiões geologicamente complexas com variação horizontal suave de velocidades. Os dados sintéticos foram gerados a partir dos modelos relacionados a informações geológicas, o que corresponde a uma forte informação a priori no modelo de inversão. Para a construção dos modelos relacionados aos projetos da Rede Risco Exploratório (FINEP) e de formação de recursos humanos da ANP em andamento, analisamos os seguintes assuntos relevantes: (1) Geologia de bacias sedimentares terrestre dos Solimões e ma rinha (estratigráfica, estrutural, tectônica e petrolífera); (2) Física da resolução vertical e horizontal; e (3) Discretização temporal-espacial no cubo de multi-cobertura. O processo de inversão é dependente do efeito da discretização tempo-espacial do campo de ondas, dos parâmetros físicos do levantamento sísmico, e da posterior reamostragem no cubo de cobertura múltipla. O modelo direto empregado corresponde ao caso do operador do empilhamento NMO (1D), considerando uma topografia de observação plana. O critério básico tomado como referência para a inversão e o ajuste de curvas é a norma 2 (quadrática). A inversão usando o presente modelo simples é computacionalmente atrativa por ser rápida, e conveniente por permitir que vários outros recursos possam ser incluídos com interpretação física lógica; por exemplo, a Zona de Fresnel Projetada (ZFP), cálculo direto da divergência esférica, inversão Dix, inversão linear por reparametrização, informações a priori, regularização. A ZFP mostra ser um conceito út il para estabelecer a abertura da janela espacial da inversão na seção tempo-distância, e representa a influência dos dados na resolução horizontal. A estimativa da ZFP indica uma abertura mínima com base num modelo adotado, e atualizável. A divergência esférica é uma função suave, e tem base física para ser usada na definição da matriz ponderação dos dados em métodos de inversão tomográfica. A necessidade de robustez na inversão pode ser analisada em seções sísmicas (FC, PMC) submetida a filtragens (freqüências de cantos: 5;15;75;85; banda-passante trapezoidal), onde se pode identificar, comparar e interpretar as informações contidas. A partir das seções, concluímos que os dados são contaminados com pontos isolados, o que propõe métodos na classe dos considerados robustos, tendo-se como referência a norma 2 (quadrados- mínimos) de ajuste de curvas. Os algoritmos foram desenvolvidos na linguagem de programação FORTRAN 90/95, usando o programa MATLAB para apresentação de resultados, e o sistema CWP/SU para modelagem sísmica sintética, marcação de eventos e apresentação de resultados.

Sistema informatizado para dispositivos móveis de coleta dos dados referentes à cesta básica do município de Botucatu/SP

The collection of prices for basic goods supply is very important for the population, based on the collection and processing of these data the CLI (Cost Living Index) is calculated among others, helping consumers to shop more rationally and with a clearer view of each product impact of each product on their household budget, not only food, but also cleaning products and personal hygiene ones. Nowadays, the project of collection of prices for basic goods supply is conducted weekly in Botucatu - SP through a spreadsheet. The aim of this work was to develop a software which utilized mobile devices in the data collection and storage phase, concerning the basic goods supply in Botucatu -SP. This was created in order to eliminate the need of taking notes in paper spreadsheets, increasing efficiency and accelerating the data processing. This work utilized the world of mobile technology and development tools, through the platform".NET" - Compact Framework and programming language Visual Basic".NET" was used in the handheld phase, enabling to develop a system using techniques of object oriented programming, with higher speed and reliability in the codes writing. A HP Pavilion dv3 personal computer and an Eten glofish x500+ handheld computer were used. At the end of the software development, collection, data storing and processing in a report, the phase of in loco paper spreadsheets were eliminated and it was possible to verify that the whole process was faster, more consistent, safer, more efficient and the data were more available.

Controle e aquisição de dados experimentais com tecnologia bluetooth em dispositivos móveis

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A Virtual Programming Lab for Moodle with automatic assessment and anti-plagiarism features

[EN] This paper describes VPL, a Virtual Programming Lab module for Moodle, developed at the University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and released for free uses under GNU/GPL license. For the students, it is a simple development environment with auto evaluation capabilities. For the instructors, it is a students' work management system, with features to facilitate the preparation of assignments, manage the submissions, check for plagiarism, and do assessments with the aid of powerful and flexible assessment tools based on program testing, all of that being independent of the programming language used for the assignments and taken into account critical security issues.

Constraint handling rules. Compositional semantics and program transformation

This thesis intends to investigate two aspects of Constraint Handling Rules (CHR). It proposes a compositional semantics and a technique for program transformation. CHR is a concurrent committed-choice constraint logic programming language consisting of guarded rules, which transform multi-sets of atomic formulas (constraints) into simpler ones until exhaustion [Frü06] and it belongs to the declarative languages family. It was initially designed for writing constraint solvers but it has recently also proven to be a general purpose language, being as it is Turing equivalent [SSD05a]. Compositionality is the first CHR aspect to be considered. A trace based compositional semantics for CHR was previously defined in [DGM05]. The reference operational semantics for such a compositional model was the original operational semantics for CHR which, due to the propagation rule, admits trivial non-termination. In this thesis we extend the work of [DGM05] by introducing a more refined trace based compositional semantics which also includes the history. The use of history is a well-known technique in CHR which permits us to trace the application of propagation rules and consequently it permits trivial non-termination avoidance [Abd97, DSGdlBH04]. Naturally, the reference operational semantics, of our new compositional one, uses history to avoid trivial non-termination too. Program transformation is the second CHR aspect to be considered, with particular regard to the unfolding technique. Said technique is an appealing approach which allows us to optimize a given program and in more detail to improve run-time efficiency or spaceconsumption. Essentially it consists of a sequence of syntactic program manipulations which preserve a kind of semantic equivalence called qualified answer [Frü98], between the original program and the transformed ones. The unfolding technique is one of the basic operations which is used by most program transformation systems. It consists in the replacement of a procedure-call by its definition. In CHR every conjunction of constraints can be considered as a procedure-call, every CHR rule can be considered as a procedure and the body of said rule represents the definition of the call. While there is a large body of literature on transformation and unfolding of sequential programs, very few papers have addressed this issue for concurrent languages. We define an unfolding rule, show its correctness and discuss some conditions in which it can be used to delete an unfolded rule while preserving the meaning of the original program. Finally, confluence and termination maintenance between the original and transformed programs are shown. This thesis is organized in the following manner. Chapter 1 gives some general notion about CHR. Section 1.1 outlines the history of programming languages with particular attention to CHR and related languages. Then, Section 1.2 introduces CHR using examples. Section 1.3 gives some preliminaries which will be used during the thesis. Subsequentely, Section 1.4 introduces the syntax and the operational and declarative semantics for the first CHR language proposed. Finally, the methodologies to solve the problem of trivial non-termination related to propagation rules are discussed in Section 1.5. Chapter 2 introduces a compositional semantics for CHR where the propagation rules are considered. In particular, Section 2.1 contains the definition of the semantics. Hence, Section 2.2 presents the compositionality results. Afterwards Section 2.3 expounds upon the correctness results. Chapter 3 presents a particular program transformation known as unfolding. This transformation needs a particular syntax called annotated which is introduced in Section 3.1 and its related modified operational semantics !0t is presented in Section 3.2. Subsequently, Section 3.3 defines the unfolding rule and prove its correctness. Then, in Section 3.4 the problems related to the replacement of a rule by its unfolded version are discussed and this in turn gives a correctness condition which holds for a specific class of rules. Section 3.5 proves that confluence and termination are preserved by the program modifications introduced. Finally, Chapter 4 concludes by discussing related works and directions for future work.