Checking semantics in UML models

Modeling is one of the most crucial activities during all the phases in any software development life cycle. Typically, system development is a very complex task, and working with models helps to handle this complexity in an organized way, allowing us to reason about the properties that entities possess. In software engineering, notation, techniques and methodology for object-oriented model building has been lately the focus of active research work. In the case of object-oriented software development, models are composed by a number of communicating and well delimited elements. Although such models are sometimes harder to develop, they are easier to understand, and simpler to maintain and modify.Thus, reusability of elements among models is enhanced. In order to maximize these properties, we need tools that support the process of object- oriented development by serving as repository of previously asserted knowledge, checking the integrity of the model and maintaining the different views that form each model. Consequently, it is expected this automatic control will reduce the manual, error-prone work of maintaining model consistency across all life cycle phases. UML, Unified Modeling Language is a graphical language for visualizing, specifying, constructing and documenting the elements of a software intensive system. UML provides notation for expressing the model, in the form of graphic and text elements. Attached to these elements, there is a semantic interpretation that attempts to capture the meaning of the model, and it is represented by the constraint mechanism. Constraints are one of the three extensibility mechanisms that UML introduces, although currently the language for expressing them is not standard (natural language or OCL can be used for this purpose). Supporting tools for object oriented development in UML should not only provide a graphic editor for the notation, but also help to ensure the coherence of its semantics aspects. This research line attempts to formalize the consistency check process in UML models. Eje: Ingeniería de Software Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI)