A platform-independent model (PIM) in

software engineering Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term ' ...

is a model of a

software system A software system is a system of intercommunicating components based on software forming part of a computer system (a combination of hardware and software). It "consists of a number of separate programs, configuration files, which are used to s ...

or business system that is independent of the specific technological platform used to implement it. The term platform-independent model is most frequently used in the context of the

model-driven architecture Model Driven Architecture (MDA) is a software design approach for the development of software systems. It provides a set of guidelines for the structuring of specifications, which are expressed as models. Model Driven Architecture is a kind of doma ...

approach. This model-driven architecture approach corresponds to the

Object Management Group The Object Management Group (OMG) is a computer industry standards consortium. OMG Task Forces develop enterprise integration standards for a range of technologies. Business activities The goal of the OMG was a common portable and interoperab ...

vision of

model-driven engineering Model-driven engineering (MDE) is a software development methodology that focuses on creating and exploiting domain models, which are conceptual models of all the topics related to a specific problem. Hence, it highlights and aims at abstract ...

. The main idea is that it should be possible to use a model transformation language to transform a platform-independent model into a

platform-specific model A platform-specific model is a model of a software or business system that is linked to a specific technological platform (e.g. a specific programming language, operating system, document file format or database). Platform-specific models are indi ...

. In order to achieve this transformation, one can use a language compliant to the newly defined QVT standard. Examples of such languages are VIATRA or

ATLAS Transformation Language ATL (ATLAS Transformation Language) is a model transformation language and toolkit developed and maintained by OBEO and AtlanMod. It was initiated by the AtlanMod team (previously called ATLAS Group). In the field of Model-Driven Engineering (M ...

. It means execution of the program is not restricted by the type of

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

used.

Related concepts

* Domain-specific modelling *

Eclipse Modeling Framework Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) is an Eclipse (software), Eclipse-based Model-driven architecture, modeling framework and Automatic programming, code generation facility for building tools and other applications based on a structured data model. ...

Generic Modeling Environment Generic Modeling Environment (GME) is a model-integrated program synthesis tool for creating domain-specific models of large-scale systems. GME allows users to define new modeling languages using UML-based metamodels. GME was developed by the Ins ...

Graphical Modeling Framework The Graphical Modeling Framework (GMF) is a framework within the Eclipse platform. It provides a generative component and runtime infrastructure for developing graphical editors based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) and Graphical Editing ...

Interaction Flow Modeling Language The Interaction Flow Modeling Language (IFML) is a standardized modeling language in the field of software engineering. IFML includes a set of graphic notations to create visual models of user interactions and front-end behavior in software system ...

* Kermeta *

KM3 KM3 or Kernel Meta Meta Model is a neutral computer language to write metamodels and to define Domain Specific Languages. KM3 has been defined at INRIA and is available under the Eclipse platform. References ...

Meta-modeling A metamodel or surrogate model is a model of a model, and metamodeling is the process of generating such metamodels. Thus metamodeling or meta-modeling is the analysis, construction and development of the frames, rules, constraints, models and ...

* Model Transformation Language * OCL *

Platform-specific model A platform-specific model is a model of a software or business system that is linked to a specific technological platform (e.g. a specific programming language, operating system, document file format or database). Platform-specific models are indi ...

* SmartQVT *

SysML The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) is a general-purpose modeling language for systems engineering applications. It supports the specification, analysis, design, verification and validation of a broad range of systems and systems-of-systems. ...

Unified Modeling Language The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose, developmental modeling language in the field of software engineering that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. The creation of UML was originally ...

* XMI

References

{{Unreferenced, date=November 2008 Software architecture