A natural language processing approach to generate SBVR and OCL

Bajwa, Imran Sarwar (2014). A natural language processing approach to generate SBVR and OCL. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Preview

Bajwa14PhD.pdf
PDF - Accepted Version
Download (3MB)

Abstract

The Object Constraint Language (OCL) is a declarative language and is used to make the Unified Modeling Language (UML) models well-defined through defining a set of constraints. However, the syntactic complexity of OCL makes the writing of OCL code difficult. A natural language based interface can be useful in making the process of writing OCL expressions easy and simple. However, the translation of natural language (NL) text to object constraint language (OCL) code is a challenging task on account of the informal nature of natural languages as various syntactic and semantic ambiguities make the process of NL translation to formal languages more complex. However, in our approach the usage of SBVR not only provides natural languages a formal abstract syntax representation but it is also close to OCL syntax. In this thesis, a framework is presented to facilitate the users of the UML tools so that they can write invariants and pre/post conditions in English. The results of the case studies manifest that a natural language based approach to generate OCL constraints can not only help in significantly improving usability of OCL but also outperforms the most closely related techniques in terms of effectiveness and effort required in generating OCL

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):