Partial evaluation of model transformations

Model Transformation is considered an important enabling factor for Model Driven Development. Transformations can be applied not only for the generation of new models from existing ones, but also for the consistent co-evolution of software artifacts that pertain to various phases of software lifecycle such as requirement models, design documents and source code. Furthermore, it is often common in practical scenarios to apply such transformations repeatedly and frequently; an activity that can take a significant amount of time and resources, especially when the affected models are complex and highly interdependent. In this paper, we discuss a novel approach for deriving incremental model transformations by the partial evaluation of original model transformation programs. Partial evaluation involves pre-computing parts of the transformation program based on known model dependencies and the type of the applied model change. Such pre-evaluation allows for significant reduction of transformation time in large and complex model repositories. To evaluate the approach, we have implemented QvtMix, a prototype partial evaluator for the Query, View and Transformation Operational Mappings (QVT-OM) language. The experiments indicate that the proposed technique can be used for significantly improving the performance of repetitive applications of model transformations.