Deriving a Component Model from a Language Specification : An Example Using Natural Semantics ∗

Development of a component model for a given language is tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone. Moreover, many tasks of this process have to be repeated when modeling sets of related languages. In this paper, we propose to use the meta-modeling approach and for a given language to derive an invasive component model as its derived meta-model. The derivation of a component model then becomes a horizontal extension of the corresponding language meta-model. We argue that, in principle, any language construct can be made generic by a mapping to a generic element of its component model. Moreover, for extensible language constructs additional mappings can be provided to support extensible component constructs. Using this approach, a generic and extensible component model can be derived from a given language and used both for generic and view-based programming. The presented approach provides significant automation support in the development of component models for arbitrary languages. As an example, we show the derivation of a component model using a Natural Semantics specification for a given language. The specification is defined using Relational Meta-Language (RML), which is an executable implementation of Natural Semantics.