1. Ontology-based Software Engineering
Shao-yen Cheng
Date

2. Software “Engineering”
Are you calling yourself an ENGINEER? Based on what?
SE is NOT a genuine engineering discipline, yet.
Lack of fundamental principles
Strongly relies on engineering practice instead of science

3. Software Essential Difficulties by Frederick Brooks: Intangibility
Complexity
Conformity
Changeability
“Software is a knowledge repository. The knowledge that is stored in software largely relates to the application domain, and not to software as an entity itself.” - Phillip G. Armour

4. Software Engineers’ Job
Mostly, communications
Human-to-Human
Human-to-Machine
Machine-to-Machine

5. Semiotic Triangle

6. Conceptual Modeling
E/R Model
UML

7. Conceptualization C = (D, W, R) D: a set of all elements in a domain
W: a set of all possible worlds in the domain
R: a set of conceptual relations in the domain space <D, W>

8. Ontology
Ontology
is introduced by Aristotle, the study of being qua being
studies the essence of existence
An ontology
is a artifact developed to express the meaning of a vocabulary.
must be valid in all possible worlds of the domain.
A good ontology limits possible interpretation of a vocabulary

9. Goals
Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge Reuse

10. Languages First Order Logic OWL Modal Logic Higher Order Logic
Logic Programming Language
UML

11. Application of Ontologies
Neutral Authoring
Specification
Common Access to Information
Ontology-based Search

12. In Software Engineering Context
Analysis
Domain Ontologies
Design
Component Reuse
Implementation
Coding support
Documentation support

13. In SE Context (cont.) Deployment Semantic Web Services Maintenance
Traceability

14. Potentials Open Ontology Domain Ontology Libraries
Domain Specific Languages Generation
Model Transformation
Model Driven Engineering

15. Contribution to 577 Build a shared knowledge base
Reduce time to learn domain knowledge
Ontology-based search on components

16. Reference
[1] V. Devedzić, "Understanding ontological engineering," Communications of the ACM, vol. 45(4), pp , 2002.
[2] R. d. A. Falbo, G. Guizzardi and K. C. Duarte. An ontological approach to domain engineering. Presented at Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering. 2002, Available:
[3] G. Guizzardi, R. d. A. Falbo and J. G. P. Filho. Using objects and patterns to implement domain ontologies. Presented at 15th Brasilian Symposium on Software Engineering (SBES 2001). 2001, Available:
[4] G. Guizzardi, G. Wagner and M. S. van. A formal theory of conceptual modeling universals. Presented at Workshop on Philosophy and Informatics (WSPI), Cologne, Germany, , Available:
[5] H. Happel and S. Seedorf. Applications of ontologies in software engineering. Presented at In 2nd International Workshop on Semantic Web Enabled Software Engineering (SWESE 2006), Held at the 5th International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC 2006)
[6] T. S. Dillon, E. Chang and P. Wongthongtham. Ontology-based software engineering- software engineering Presented at Software Engineering, ASWEC th Australian Conference on Title={Ontology-Based Software Engineering- Software Engineering , . DOI: /ASWEC

17. References
[7] P. Kruchten, "An ontology of architectural design decisions in software intensive systems," In 2nd Groningen Workshop on Software Variability, pp , Dec
[8] W. Hesse. Ontologies in the software engineering process. Presented at In (R. Lenz Et Al., Ed.): EAI Proceedings of the Workshop on Enterprise Application Integration
[9] P. G. Armour. Software: Hard data. Commun ACM 49(9), pp Available: DOI: /
[10] D. Gašević, N. Kaviani and M. Milanović, "Ontologies and software engineering" in staab, S. & studer, R. (eds.) , , 2009, pp ," in Handbook on Ontologies, S. Staab, Ed. Berlin-Heidelberg, Germany: Springer, 2009, pp
[11] N. Guarino, D. Oberle and S. Staab. What is an ontology? pp Available: DOI: / _0.