Abstract modelling: towards a typed declarative language for the conceptual modelling phase

Legatiuk, Dmitrii; Nilsson, Henrik

Abstract

Modelling languages have become an indispensable aid to practising engineers. They offer modelling at a high level of abstraction backed by features such as automatic simulation and even derivation of production code. However, partly because of the offered automation, modelling languages are limited to specific application areas: to our knowledge, no modelling language supports mathematical physics modelling in its full generality. Yet, when developing large, coupled, multiphysics models, there is a clear need for such an overarching language to ensure the coherence of the model as a whole, even if submodels ultimately are realised in modelling languages targeting specific domains or are pre-existing. In prior work, it was demonstrated how treating models as abstract objects in category theory offers one way to ensure coherence of key aspects for composite models. Type theory offers complementary approaches. This paper presents a first step towards a language supporting abstract modelling in mathematical physics with the aim of ensuring coherence of coupled multiphysics models early in the design process. To that end, following the approach of Functional Hybrid Modelling (FHM), we discuss how a language supporting quite general modelling equations can be realised as an embedding in Haskell. The appeal of the proposed approach is that only very few core concepts are needed, which greatly simplifies the semantics. The appeal of an embedded realisation as such is that much of the language infrastructure comes for free.

Citation

Legatiuk, D., & Nilsson, H. (2017). Abstract modelling: towards a typed declarative language for the conceptual modelling phase.

• Conference Name: 8th International Workshop on Equation-Based Object-Oriented Modeling Languages and Tools (EOOLT 2017)
• Acceptance Date: Oct 11, 2017
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Feb 26, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 26, 2018
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Modelling, Haskell, Functional Hybrid Modelling, abstraction
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/898067
• Publisher URL: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3158191.3158202
• Related Public URLs: https://www.uni-weimar.de/en/civil-engineering/chairs/computing-in-civil-engineering/people/dr-dmitrii-legatiuk/; http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~psznhn/
• Additional Information: Published in: Proceedings of 8th International Workshop; on Equation-Based Object-Oriented Modeling Languages and Tools, Munich, Germany, December 2017 (EOOLT 2017), p. 61-64. New York : ACM, 2017. ISBN 9781450363730. doi:10.1145/3158191.3158202
• Contract Date: Feb 26, 2018