MetaBuilder: The Diagrammer’s Diagrammer | Zendy

Ian Ferguson | Zendy; Andrew Hunter | Zendy; Colin Hardy | Zendy

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MetaBuilder: The Diagrammer’s Diagrammer

Author(s) -

Ian Ferguson,

Andrew Hunter,

Colin Hardy

Publication year - 2000

Publication title -

lecture notes in computer science

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Book series

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.249

H-Index - 400

eISSN - 1611-3349

pISSN - 0302-9743

ISBN - 3-540-67915-4

DOI - 10.1007/3-540-44590-0_34

Subject(s) - computer science , computer graphics (images) , engineering drawing , programming language , engineering

A software tool named MetaBuilder is described. MetaBuilder's purpose is to enable the rapid creation of computerised diagram editing tools for structured diagrammatic notations. At its heart is an object-oriented, graphical meta-modelling technique - a diagrammatic notation for describing other diagrammatic notations. The notation is based upon the concept of a mathematical graph consisting of nodes and edges. Construction of a "target tool" proceeds by drawing a meta-model of the target notation. Items in the target notation are modelled as "classes" and the syntax of the target notation such as connectivity between elements are expressed as "relationships" between the classes. Once the meta-model is complete, a new tool can be generated automatically. Thus the time to develop such notation specific drawing tools can be dramatically reduced. As the design of a piece of software can be expressed diagrammatically, the MetaBuilder software can be used to build itself!

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