364 TOOLS FOR DSM
Technically, the main problem with ToolBuilder seemed to be the large resource
cost of building support for a new modeling language, coupled with the specialist
knowledge required to use ToolBuilder. There seems to have been no case where
customers were able to build anything other than academic prototype modeling
language without experts from IPSYS working alongside them. As Isazadeh??™s thesis
puts it (1997):
At run-time most of the functionality of the tools is provided by C functions [handwritten
by the metamodeler]. . . . In general, a conclusion in working with ToolBuilder
by a long-time user [Sunderland University??™s Ian Ferguson (1993)] is the extreme
complexity of extending the functionality of the tools beyond the default operations
which, together with poor documentation, requires a lengthy learning curve.
14.3 WHAT IS NEEDED IN A DSM ENVIRONMENT
When looking at what is needed in a DSM environment, we can take some things for
granted. First let us look at the minimum facilities for metamodelers:
. Specify the object and relationship types declaratively,
. Specify declaratively a list of properties for each object or relationship type,
with support for at least string and Boolean property data types,
. Specify basic rules for how objects can be connected by relationships,
.
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