[sc34wg3] Topic Maps land and SAM land

[Martin Bryan]

Sam

> I note also that my request for a citation for an agreed-upon definition
> of "metamodel" has gone unanswered as well. Of course, maybe the word is
> only there for marketing purposes, so I shouldn't concern myself with it.

Try the following from Table 2.1 of the OMG Unified Modelling Language:

Metamodel: Defines the language for specifying a model

or the definition given in the OMG Modeling Glossary in Annex B of the
specification:

"A model that defines the language for expressing a model."

(I prefer the first as the second is circular.)

In fact UML also defines metamodel as "An instance of a meta-metamodel"
where a meta-metamodel is defined as "The infrastructure for a metamodelling
domain" and defines a model as "Describes a language to define an
information domain".

Whether or not you consider the use of the term metamodel within UML (which
is littered with the term) as an "agreed-upon definition" is up to you.

Martin Bryan
IS-Thought: Thinkers for the Information Society
29 Oldbury Orchard, Churchdown, Glos. GL3 2PU, UK
Phone/Fax: 01452 714029 E-mail: martin@is-thought.co.uk

Thought of the week:
Is "being" necessary? Won't "known as" suffice?