PyFml - a Textual Language For Feature Modeling

TL;DR

PyFML introduces a Python-based textual language for feature modeling, enhancing expressiveness and scalability in representing complex variability in software product lines, with direct integration into constraint solving tools.

Contribution

It presents a novel textual feature modeling language based on Python, extending classical models with attributes, instance cardinalities, and complex constraints, improving scalability and expressiveness.

Findings

Supports complex logical and mathematical constraints

Maps feature models directly to object-oriented representations

Enables validation of feature model constraints efficiently

Abstract

The Feature model is a typical approach to capture variability in a software product line design and implementation. For that, most works automate feature model using a limited graphical notation represented by propositional logic and implemented by Prolog or Java programming languages. These works do not properly combine the extensions of classical feature models and do not provide scalability to implement large size problem issues. In this work, we propose a textual feature modeling language based on Python programming language (PyFML), that generalizes the classical feature models with instance feature cardinalities and attributes which be extended with highlight of replication and complex logical and mathematical cross-tree constraints. textX Meta-language is used for building PyFML to describe and organize feature model dependencies, and PyConstraint Problem Solver is used to implement feature model variability and its constraints validation. The work provides a textual human-readable language to represent feature model and maps the feature model descriptions directly into the object-oriented representation to be used by Constraint Problem Solver for computation. Furthermore, the proposed PyFML makes the notation of feature modeling more expressive to deal with complex software product line representations and using PyConstraint Problem Solver