modelverse/techreport/multi_conformance/abstract.tex

The basic building block for construction a modelling tool architecture, is the relationship between a type and its instances.
It is this relation which gives rise to the hierarchy that forms the foundation of the four-layer-architecture and to multi-level modelling.
Only through the type/instance relation, a distinction is made between a model and its metamodel.
This relation consists of two equally important components: instantiation and conformance.
As both form the foundation of a modelling tool, they are often hardcoded, both for conceptual and performance reasons.
While this seems logical, it constrains users to the problems envisioned by the tool developers.
It becomes necessary to alter models that are not a perfect fit for the provided framework, increasing accidental complexity.
Incidently, minimizing accidental complexity is one of the core goals of Model Driven Engineering.
In this report, we consider the limitations imposed by a hardcoded conformance relation.
We also present our approach of explicitly modelling the conformance relation: users can chose which conformance to use, and gain insight in the semantics of the tool.
We discuss the advantages of this approach, and how this was implemented in our tool: the Modelverse.
An example is given where different notions of conformance are used.