On the Semantics of Object-oriented Data Structures and Path Expressions (Extended Version)

Achim D. Brucker, Delphine Longuet, Frédéric Tuong und Burkhart Wolff

Cover for brucker.ea:path-expressions:2013-b.UML/OCL is perceived as the de-facto standard for specifying object-oriented models in general and data models in particular. Since recently, all data types of UML/OCL comprise two different exception elements: inlineoclinvalid ("bottom" in semantics terminology) and inlineoclnull (for "non-existing element"). This has far-reaching consequences on both the logical and algebraic properties of OCL expressions as well as the path expressions over object-oriented data structures, ie, class models.

In this paper, we present a formal semantics for object-oriented data models in which all data types and, thus, all class attributes and path expressions, support inlineoclinvalid and inlineoclnull. Based on this formal semantics, we present a set of OCL test cases that can be used for evaluating the support of inlineoclnull and inlineoclinvalid in OCL tools.

Schlüsselwörter: Object-oriented Data Structures, Path Expressions, Featherweight OCL, Null, Invalid, Formal Semantics
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Achim D. Brucker, Delphine Longuet, Frédéric Tuong und Burkhart Wolff. On the Semantics of Object-oriented Data Structures and Path Expressions (Extended Version). Laboratoire en Recherche en Informatique (LRI), Université Paris-Sud 11, France, Technical Report 1565, 2013.
Schlüsselwörter: Object-oriented Data Structures, Path Expressions, Featherweight OCL, Null, Invalid, Formal Semantics
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BibTeX
@TechReport{ brucker.ea:path-expressions:2013-b,
abstract = {\UML/\OCL is perceived as the de-facto standard for specifying object-oriented models in general and data models in particular. Since recently, all data types of \UML/\OCL comprise two different exception elements: \inlineocl{invalid} (``bottom'' in semantics terminology) and \inlineocl{null} (for ``non-existing element''). This has far-reaching consequences on both the logical and algebraic properties of \OCL expressions as well as the path expressions over object-oriented data structures, \ie, class models.\\\\In this paper, we present a formal semantics for object-oriented data models in which all data types and, thus, all class attributes and path expressions, support \inlineocl{invalid} and \inlineocl{null}. Based on this formal semantics, we present a set of \OCL test cases that can be used for evaluating the support of \inlineocl{null} and \inlineocl{invalid} in \OCL tools.},
author = {Achim D. Brucker and Delphine Longuet and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Tuong and Burkhart Wolff},
booktitle = {Workshop on OCL and Textual Modelling (OCL 2013)},
institution = {Laboratoire en Recherche en Informatique (LRI), Universit\'e Paris-Sud 11, France},
keywords = {Object-oriented Data Structures, Path Expressions, Featherweight OCL, Null, Invalid, Formal Semantics},
number = {1565},
pdf = {https://www.brucker.ch/bibliography/download/2013/brucker.ea-path-expressions-2013-b.pdf},
title = {On the Semantics of Object-oriented Data Structures and Path Expressions (Extended Version)},
url = {https://www.brucker.ch/bibliography/abstract/brucker.ea-path-expressions-2013-b},
year = {2013},
}