Using Graph Rewriting in the Transformation 
of Software Architectures






program understanding


In order to maintain and improve 
software, we need to have a firm 
understanding of the way the software components 
interact. In other words, we need to 
know the systemís structure or architecture. During 
software maintenance, it is common that we 
transform the software architecture in order to 
understand, analyze and possibly modify the software. 
For example, we may want to examine 
the architecture at different levels of abstraction 
or zoom-in on one portion of the 
system. In earlier work, we identified architectural 
transformations that commonly occur, and showed that 
these can be viewed as graph transformations. 
In this paper, we use graph rewriting 
to model and specify these transformations so 
that we can work towards automating them. 
Specifically, we use the PROGRES language to 
formulate executable graph-rewriting specifications for various architectural 
transformations such as lifting, diagnostic, and repair 
transformations in order to demonstrate the potential 
use of graph rewriting in modeling, specifying, 
and automating architectural transformations.