Designing a Topological Modeler Kernel: A Rule-Based Approach

In this article, we present a rule-based language dedicated to topological operations and based on graph transformations. Generalized maps are described as a particular class of graphs determined by consistency constraints. Hence, topological operations over generalized maps can be specified using graph transformations. The rules we define are provided with syntactic criteria which ensure that graphs computed by applying rules on generalized maps are also generalized maps. We have developed a static analyzer of transformation rules which checks the syntactic criteria in order to ensure the preservation of generalized map consistency constraints. Based on this static analyzer, we have designed a rule-based prototype of a kernel of a topology-based modeler that is generic in dimension. Since adding a new topological operation can be reduced to write a graph transformation rule, we directly obtain an extensible prototype where handled topological objects satisfy built-in consistency. Moreover, first benchmarks show that our prototype is reasonably efficient compared to a reference implementation of 3D generalized maps which use a classical implementation style.