Different designs of andromda and acceleo

Andromda and acceleo are both popular and well-known open-source MDA tools. The basic operating principles of these two tools are as follows:

Andromda:

Step 1: Design the model and use stereotype to identify the model type that andromda can understand (identify which cartridge is used );

Step 2: Use commands provided by andromda to generate a platform-related model (Code).

Acceleo:

Step 1: Design a model without special requirements for the model, but use stereotype to control the Display Effect of the generated elements;

Step 2: select a generator (generator, which may have n or more generators );

Step 3: Execute the command generation.

As you can see, acceleo has one more step than andromda, and this step is an important difference between the two in design philosophy. A part of the decision-making power required for the platform-related model generated by acceleo is placed after the model is designed and the code is generated. In this way, different generators can be selected for the same model to generate different platform-related models. Andromda puts all this decision into the design model, so that the work done during code generation is much simpler. However, the most serious problem caused by this practice of andromda is that the model we designed is not a platform-independent model, but a model that can only be interpreted by andromda. Although andromda extends UML2 in a compliant form, various modeling tools can present this model file, but these stereotype may be useless information for other tools, we always feel that our model is not very clean. It can also be said that the platform-related models intrude into the design of the platform-independent model, so that it is no longer platform-independent. Therefore, individuals prefer the acceleo solution.

Although acceleo solves the platform independence problem of model design to a certain extent, the new problem is that the process of generating code is really cumbersome. In most cases, our decisions are the same, and these decisions need to be repeated. Therefore, if you can do someArticleTo make this process easier, I think it is a better solution.