Model-driven architecture (MDA™)

Model-driven architecture (MDA™) is a software design approach launched by the Object Management Group (OMG)[1] in 2001.
MDA supports model-driven engineering of software systems. MDA provides a set of guidelines for structuring specifications expressed as models. The MDA approach defines system functionality using a platform-independent model (PIM) using an appropriate domain-specific language. Then, given a platform definition model (PDM) corresponding to CORBA, .NET, the Web, etc., the PIM is translated to one or more platform-specific models (PSMs) that computers can run. The PSM may use different Domain Specific Languages, or a General Purpose Language like Java, C#, Python, etc.[citation needed]
Automated tools generally perform these translations, for example tools compliant to the new OMG standard named QVT. The OMG documents the overall process in a document called the MDA Guide. MDA principles can also apply to other areas such as business process modeling where the PIM is translated to either automated or manual processes[citation needed].
The MDA model is related to multiple standards, including the Unified Modeling Language (UML), the Meta-Object Facility (MOF), XML Metadata Interchange (XMI), Enterprise Distributed Object Computing (EDOC), the Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM), and the Common Warehouse Metamodel (CWM). Note that the term “architecture” in Model-driven architecture does not refer to the architecture of the system being modeled, but rather to the architecture of the various standards and model forms that serve as the technology basis for MDA.
The Object Management Group holds trademarks on MDA, as well as several similar terms including Model Driven Development (MDD), Model Driven Application Development, Model Based Application Development, Model Based Programming, and others. The main acronym that has not yet been deposited by OMG until now is MDE. As a consequence, the research community uses MDE to refer to general model engineering ideas, without committing to strict OMG standards.[citation needed]
OMG focuses Model-driven architecture on forward engineering, i.e. producing code from abstract, human-elaborated specifications[citation needed]. OMG's ADTF (Analysis and Design Task Force) group leads this effort. With some humour, the group chose ADM (MDA backwards) to name the study of reverse engineering. ADM decodes to Architecture-Driven Modernization. The objective of ADM is to produce standards for model-based reverse engineering of legacy systems, see [1]. Knowledge Discovery Metamodel (KDM) is the furthest along of these efforts, and describes information systems in terms of various assets (programs, specifications, data, test files, database schemas, etc.).