Software Development Tools in Model-Driven Engineering

Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is a software development approach that considers the systematic use of models to develop software rather than using general purpose programming languages. The development of MDE based on Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) covers two stages. The first, the creation of a set of artifacts such as DSLs, model transformation mechanisms, code generators. A second stage, where people do not necessarily with computer training using the artifacts created, develop applications simply because of the high level of abstraction allowed by technology. However, there are several obstacles that need to be overcome in order for this new approach to software development to be widely used. One of them, the lack of knowledge of tools and the development process with MDE. In order to minimize this problem, in the present work a categorization and description of the main environments and tools used in MDE are carried out. Using some of the tools analyzed also points out the process of creating a DSL.