Simplifying Transformations of OCL Constraints

Paper in proceeding, 2005

With the advent of Model Driven Architecture, OCL constraints are no longer necessarily written by humans. They can be parts of models that emerge from a chain of transformations. They might be the result of instantiating templates, of combining prefabricated parts, or of more general computation. Such generated specifications will often contain redundancies that reduce their readability. In this paper, we explore the possibilities of transforming OCL formulae to a simpler form through the repeated application of simple rules. We discuss the different kinds of rules that are needed, and we describe a prototypical implementation of the approach.