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Object Management Group Adopts Metamodel Extension Facility
New specification enables developers to easily alter metamodels
NEEDHAM, MA – JULY 6, 2020 – Today, international technology standards organization Object Management Group® (OMG®) has adopted the Metamodel Extension Facility (MEF) as a specification. MEF provides a new and fully consistent extension capability to modeling systems defined through the OMG Meta Object Facility (MOF), also known as ISO 19502:2005 and ISO 19508:2014, which includes modeling languages like the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the Systems Engineering Modeling Language (SysML).
Profiles and stereotypes have been the exclusive mechanisms to extend the capabilities of UML, and have even been used to define new languages like SysML. However, profile-based extensions come with limitations and restrictions and may necessitate undesired compromises in profile-based modeling systems. While retaining the user-visible extension notations, MEF eliminates the restrictions inherent in traditional profiles and replaces their extension techniques with the application of dynamic classification capabilities provided by the OMG MOF Support for Semantic Structures (SMOF).
"The metamodel extension capabilities provided by MEF can be used with any MOF metamodel and can replace UML profiles," said Manfred Koethe, Co-Founder, President and Chief Technology Officer, 88solutions Corporation and lead author of the specification. "MEF eliminates the restrictions inherent in traditional profiling while preserving the expected profile semantics. The extended metamodel is homogenous and therefore easier to use and to implement."
The Metamodel Extension Facility (MEF) specification and the MOF family of specifications can be found in the OMG specifications catalog. All OMG specifications can be downloaded free of charge.
About OMG
The Object Management Group® (OMG®) is an international, open membership, not-for-profit technology standards consortium with representation from government, industry and academia. OMG Task Forces develop enterprise integration standards for a wide range of technologies and an even wider range of industries. OMG's modeling standards enable powerful visual design, execution and maintenance of software and other processes. Visit www.omg.org for more information.
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