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Real-time collaborative multi-level modeling by conflict-free replicated data types

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Abstract

The need for real-time collaborative solutions in model-driven engineering has been increasing over the past years. Conflict-free replicated data types (CRDT) provide scalable and robust replication mechanisms that align well with the requirements of real-time collaborative environments. In this paper, we propose a real-time collaborative multi-level modeling framework to support advanced modeling scenarios, built on a collection of custom CRDT, specifically tailored for the needs of modeling environments. We demonstrate the benefits of the framework through an illustrative modeling case and compare it with other state-of-the-art modeling frameworks.

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Notes

  1. https://www.omg.org/mof/.

  2. https://github.com/geodes-sms/lowkey.

  3. https://github.com/yjs/yjs.

  4. https://github.com/atom/teletype-crdt.

  5. https://teletype.atom.io/.

  6. https://github.com/automerge/automerge.

  7. http://couchdb.apache.org/.

  8. https://zeromq.org/.

  9. We remark, that multi-level modeling approaches traditionally rely on the orthogonal linguistic and ontological dimensions, and do not consider the physical dimension. In this paper, we only consider the linguistic and physical dimensions to allow an easier discussion. Our approach can be safely extended with ontological aspects, similarly to the work of [61].

  10. The full example is available at https://github.com/geodes-sms/lowkey.

  11. http://www.ntp.org/.

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The authors would like to express their gratitude for the insightful comments of the reviewers that helped improve the initial manuscript.

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    Istvan David & Eugene Syriani

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David, I., Syriani, E. Real-time collaborative multi-level modeling by conflict-free replicated data types. Softw Syst Model 22, 1131–1150 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-022-01054-5

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