On reducing model transformation testing overhead

Abstract

Model-Driven Engineering is essentially based in metamodel definition, model edition and the specification of model transformations (MT). In many cases the development and maintenance of these transformations are still carried out without the support of proper methods and tools to reduce the effort and cost related to them. As a result, several model transformation testing approaches have been defined over the past decade. However, they usually introduce some kind of overhead on transformation development or maintenance which has not been properly considered heretofore. In this work, we will present MoTe, a novel contract-based model transformation testing approach specifically designed to reduce testing overhead. First, we present main overhead sources in core stages of contract-based model transformation testing. Then, we give a detailed introduction of the main features and design decisions behind MoTe in order to reduce overhead in all those main stages. Furthermore, we will discuss some significant results from a comparative case study.