Page 28 - Fister jr., Iztok, and Andrej Brodnik (eds.). StuCoSReC. Proceedings of the 2016 3rd Student Computer Science Research Conference. Koper: University of Primorska Press, 2016
P. 28
be carried out: is based on logic and epistemology [2]. He defined the sign
as anything that stands for something else, to somebody, in
• Concept analysis, some respect or capacity. Nothing is a sign until it is in-
terpreted by somebody. Peirce described signs as threefold
• Visualization of features, structures consisting of: Representation, reference (object),
and meaning (interpretation) (Figure 2). Two characteris-
• Semiotic analysis, tics of these structures are valid: Firstly, a direct connection
between a representation and reference need not necessarily
• Code generation. exist. Secondly, a meaning is always a mediator between a
representation and reference. That is, the sign does not ex-
In the remainder of the paper all the mentioned phases are ist until some interpretation of representation is taken that
described in detail. has some meaning for somebody. In other words, a sign re-
quires the concurrent presence of all three characteristics.
A concept analysis identifies the concepts and relations be- On the other hand, there can be many meanings to a sign.
tween concepts. The analysis of a measuring time domain In our study, the Peircean structure of signs was taken into
summarizes the results as proposed in [8] because VDSL
EasyTime III addresses the same application-domain (i.e., Figure 2: Structure of signs.
measuring time) as the original EasyTime DSL. The concept
analysis divides the concepts into features, and then these account in order to prescribe the unique meanings of them.
features into sub-features. However, the features and sub- Indeed, unique translation of signs can be achieved to Easy-
features may be mandatory or optional. In order to denote Time domain-specific language constructs. In line with this,
the attitudes between concepts, features and sub-features, semantic analysis is not needed for this translation. There-
the concept analysis defines the following relations: fore, this process of generating the EasyTime III VDSL was
named a hybrid approach, and it can be applied usefully
• all : All features or sub-features are mandatory. when the textual DSL is already developed in this applica-
tion domain and an upgrade to the visual interface needs
• more-off : The feature may be either one of the sub- to be developed. The semiotics of EasyTime III can be de-
features from a set of sub-features or any combination scribed with the structures as illustrated in Table 2, from
of sub-features from the same set. which it can be seen that each icon is represented by a cor-
responding object. In our study, objects are represented as
• one-off : The feature may be one of the sub-features C++ classes. The objects’ meanings are defined by the im-
from a set of sub-features but not any combination of plementation code. The source code in EasyTime DSL is
sub-features from the same set. generated as a result of the implementation.
The concept diagram of the measuring time domain is de- For instance, an icon Ibegin is referenced with an object
picted in Figure 1, from which it can be seen that the concept Begin that is created by a parameter Laps which determines
Race consists of seven features (i.e., Events, Transition area, the number of laps. This object is responsible for generat-
Control points, Measuring time, Begin, End and Agents). ing the EasyTime DSL language construct ”upd STARTx ”.
Note that this character x denotes the integer value (also
2.1 Visualization of features location counter, lc) necessary for distinguishing the dif-
ferent instances of the same variables because, in contrast,
During the visualization process, the features are mapped the same names of the variables will be generated for dif-
into appropriate graphical interfaces, as presented in Ta- ferent control points. The variable lc is initialized during
ble 2.1. The Table is interpreted as follows. Icons Ibegin and race configuration. The icons Iswim, Ibike, Irun representing
Iend denote the features Begin and End, respectively. Events the events are represented by objects Event (Algorithm 1)
can be represented using icons Iswim , Ibike , and Irun and de- that are responsible for generating two DSL EasyTime lan-
scribed the sub-features, as follows: Swimming, Cycling, and guage constructs ”dec ROUNDx ” and ”upd INTERx ” (Al-
Running. The feature Transition areas is identified by icon gorithm 2). A class Event consists of three variables (type,
Ita , while Measuring devices are marked using icons Imd0 , laps, lc) and three methods (constructor Event, initialize,
Imd1 , and Imd2 .
2.2 Semiotics‘ analysis
Semiotics is the study of ’everything that can be taken as a
sign’ [17]. This is an interdisciplinary theory that comprises
domains of meanings in a variety of other disciplines like
Psychology, Anthropology, Biology, Logic, Linguistics, Phi-
losophy, and even Software Engineering [4]. Modern semi-
otics consists of two independent theories, as follows: Semi-
ology and semiotics. The former was developed in Switzer-
land by Ferdinand de Saussure [16], while the latter in North
America by Charles Sanders Peirce [13]. De Saussure’s the-
ory of signs originated from the language theory as a system
of arbitrary signifying units. The Peircean theory of signs
StuCoSReC Proceedings of the 2016 3rd Student Computer Science Research Conference 28
Ljubljana, Slovenia, 12 October
as anything that stands for something else, to somebody, in
• Concept analysis, some respect or capacity. Nothing is a sign until it is in-
terpreted by somebody. Peirce described signs as threefold
• Visualization of features, structures consisting of: Representation, reference (object),
and meaning (interpretation) (Figure 2). Two characteris-
• Semiotic analysis, tics of these structures are valid: Firstly, a direct connection
between a representation and reference need not necessarily
• Code generation. exist. Secondly, a meaning is always a mediator between a
representation and reference. That is, the sign does not ex-
In the remainder of the paper all the mentioned phases are ist until some interpretation of representation is taken that
described in detail. has some meaning for somebody. In other words, a sign re-
quires the concurrent presence of all three characteristics.
A concept analysis identifies the concepts and relations be- On the other hand, there can be many meanings to a sign.
tween concepts. The analysis of a measuring time domain In our study, the Peircean structure of signs was taken into
summarizes the results as proposed in [8] because VDSL
EasyTime III addresses the same application-domain (i.e., Figure 2: Structure of signs.
measuring time) as the original EasyTime DSL. The concept
analysis divides the concepts into features, and then these account in order to prescribe the unique meanings of them.
features into sub-features. However, the features and sub- Indeed, unique translation of signs can be achieved to Easy-
features may be mandatory or optional. In order to denote Time domain-specific language constructs. In line with this,
the attitudes between concepts, features and sub-features, semantic analysis is not needed for this translation. There-
the concept analysis defines the following relations: fore, this process of generating the EasyTime III VDSL was
named a hybrid approach, and it can be applied usefully
• all : All features or sub-features are mandatory. when the textual DSL is already developed in this applica-
tion domain and an upgrade to the visual interface needs
• more-off : The feature may be either one of the sub- to be developed. The semiotics of EasyTime III can be de-
features from a set of sub-features or any combination scribed with the structures as illustrated in Table 2, from
of sub-features from the same set. which it can be seen that each icon is represented by a cor-
responding object. In our study, objects are represented as
• one-off : The feature may be one of the sub-features C++ classes. The objects’ meanings are defined by the im-
from a set of sub-features but not any combination of plementation code. The source code in EasyTime DSL is
sub-features from the same set. generated as a result of the implementation.
The concept diagram of the measuring time domain is de- For instance, an icon Ibegin is referenced with an object
picted in Figure 1, from which it can be seen that the concept Begin that is created by a parameter Laps which determines
Race consists of seven features (i.e., Events, Transition area, the number of laps. This object is responsible for generat-
Control points, Measuring time, Begin, End and Agents). ing the EasyTime DSL language construct ”upd STARTx ”.
Note that this character x denotes the integer value (also
2.1 Visualization of features location counter, lc) necessary for distinguishing the dif-
ferent instances of the same variables because, in contrast,
During the visualization process, the features are mapped the same names of the variables will be generated for dif-
into appropriate graphical interfaces, as presented in Ta- ferent control points. The variable lc is initialized during
ble 2.1. The Table is interpreted as follows. Icons Ibegin and race configuration. The icons Iswim, Ibike, Irun representing
Iend denote the features Begin and End, respectively. Events the events are represented by objects Event (Algorithm 1)
can be represented using icons Iswim , Ibike , and Irun and de- that are responsible for generating two DSL EasyTime lan-
scribed the sub-features, as follows: Swimming, Cycling, and guage constructs ”dec ROUNDx ” and ”upd INTERx ” (Al-
Running. The feature Transition areas is identified by icon gorithm 2). A class Event consists of three variables (type,
Ita , while Measuring devices are marked using icons Imd0 , laps, lc) and three methods (constructor Event, initialize,
Imd1 , and Imd2 .
2.2 Semiotics‘ analysis
Semiotics is the study of ’everything that can be taken as a
sign’ [17]. This is an interdisciplinary theory that comprises
domains of meanings in a variety of other disciplines like
Psychology, Anthropology, Biology, Logic, Linguistics, Phi-
losophy, and even Software Engineering [4]. Modern semi-
otics consists of two independent theories, as follows: Semi-
ology and semiotics. The former was developed in Switzer-
land by Ferdinand de Saussure [16], while the latter in North
America by Charles Sanders Peirce [13]. De Saussure’s the-
ory of signs originated from the language theory as a system
of arbitrary signifying units. The Peircean theory of signs
StuCoSReC Proceedings of the 2016 3rd Student Computer Science Research Conference 28
Ljubljana, Slovenia, 12 October
