On the Practical Expressiveness of Triple Graph Grammars

Abstract

Triple Graph Grammars (TGGs) are a visual, intuitive approach for specifying model transformations, allowing the automatic derivation of model management operations including forward/backward transformations and incremental synchronisation with guaranteed, desirable properties.
The conceptual simplicity of TGGs comes at a price, however, as all TGG tools impose substantial limits on practical expressiveness (measured by ease of specification, size, and readability in this paper), rendering TGGs unsuitable for real-world transformations and representing a major barrier to their mainstream adoption.
This paper discusses excerpts of model transformations that are exceedingly difficult (and perhaps even impossible) to specify using TGGs, analyses the underlying causes, and suggests suitable extensions of existing language features.
Our goal is to inspire research that improves the practical expressiveness of TGGs and facilitates applications of the approach.

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