In the last decade, industry and academy have been looking at Model Driven Development (MDD) as an interesting approach to fight accidental complexity in system development, and to simulate models and understand their relations. In this regard, models and model transformations, expressed in appropriate formalisms, are seen as construction tools rather than just documentation. Models are the essential artifact to abstract everything and in this perspective one should strive to Model Everything.
On the one hand the industry lately has been reporting numerous examples where the use of MDD and the design of dedicated formalisms (Domain Specific Languages) for Model specification are success cases, especially in Software Product Lines. There is a wide range of application Domains: Interactive Systems, Real-Time Systems, Web 2.0 design, Business Architecture, Games, Industrial Automation, Hardware and Software Co-design, Mechatronics, Business Modeling, Requirements Engineering, or even Process Design. On the other hand, academy has been investing in this emerging field by developing foundations, systematic approaches, tools and frameworks that support Simulation and Verification, Model Checking and Model-Based Testing to bring it to a mature stage.
It has been difficult for practitioners, regular Software Engineers, to keep the pace of the evolution and be acquainted with this field. There is a wide set of tools and techniques available but no integrated vision of MDD. The community acknowledges the lack of forums to educate and present MDD in a comprehensive way.
From the above said, the 5th International Summer School on Domain Specific Modeling - Theory and Practice seeks to draw researchers, teachers, practitioners, and students (at MSc. or PhD. level) who intend to study or work with Domain Specific Modeling. The purpose is to learn principles and practices in a friendly and convivial environment. The lecturers are a mixed set of experienced professionals in the topic from both academic and industrial background.
The first two days of this Summer School are structured in several introductory classes to theoretical topics of DSMs and hands-on tutorials where techniques and tools will be explained and used. There will be a common Case Study to all the lectures and tutorials in order to have a continuous guideline among them, instead of isolated thematic talks. The fourth and fifth days will be dedicated to given an overall picture both from both the academic and industrial point of view of the most recent advances in the field highlighting the current research as well as discussing challenges and open issues.