Verification of Model Transformations: A Survey of the State-of-the-Art

Within the Model-Driven Engineering paradigm, software development is based on the definition of models providing different views of the system to be constructed and model transformations supporting a (semi)automatic development process. The verification of models and model transformations is crucial in order to improve the quality and the reliability of the products developed using this paradigm. In this context, the verification of a model transformation has three main components: the transformation itself, the properties of interest addressed, and the verification techniques used to establish the properties. In this paper we present an exhaustive review of the literature on the verification of model transformations analyzing these three components. We also take a problem-based approach exemplifying those aspects of interest that could be verified on a model transformation and show how this can be done. Finally, we conclude the need of an integrated environment for addressing the heterogeneous verification of model transformations.