Eclipse Modelling Forums: Looking at the Data

James Williams1, Nicholas Matragkas1, Dimitris Kolovos1, Yannis Korkontzelos2,

Sofia Annaniadou2, Richard Paige1

1University of York, 2University of Manchester

Overview

•  Analysed 22 modelling-related Eclipse forums

•  Tools and frameworks – EMF, GMF, Xtext, Epsilon, M2T, OCL, Graphiti,

EMFT, ATL, IncQuery, GMT, UML2, UML2 Tools, Papyrus, MOFScript, Modisco, VIATRA2, UMLX, QVTd, QVTo, MMT and Sirius

•  Calculated average number of posts/month from 2005 – 2014 (projected)

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•  Activity monitoring platform for OSS projects

•  Currently developed in the context of an EC co-funded project – www.ossmeter.org

•  Scope –  Source code – Communication channels (forums/newsgroups/

mailing lists) – Bug tracking systems

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FORUM TRAFFIC ≈ ACTIVE USER COMMUNITY SIZE

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Special cases: EMFT

•  EMF Technology •  Forum for several projects including – EMF Compare – Henshin (GT engine) – CDO – EMF Client –  Teneo – EMF Forms – EMFStore

•  Further analysis required to allocate posts to individual projects

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Special cases: MMT

•  Forum related to model-to-model transformation languages

•  Mostly ATL and QVTo •  Very few messages (139 since 2012)

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Special cases: M2T

•  Forum related to model-to-text transformation languages

•  Mostly Acceleo, Xpand and JET •  Preliminary classification (7831 posts) –  JET: 998 – Xpand: 1671 – Acceleo: 2700 – Unclassified: 2462 (≈30%)

•  Further analysis required

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Graphical Modelling Frameworks

•  GMF •  Graphiti •  Sirius

8

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

GMF

Graphiti

Sirius

9

Graphical vs. Textual Modelling

•  Graphical: GMF + Graphiti + Sirius •  Textual: Xtext

10

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Graphical

Textual

11

UML in Eclipse

•  UML2 •  UML2 Tools •  Papyrus

12

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

UML

Papyrus

UML2 Tools

13

Model Management Languages

•  Forums: ATL, M2T, Epsilon, IncQuery, QVTo, OCL

•  Analysed but not included in the graph: UMLX, QVTd, VIATRA2, MOFScript

14

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Epsilon

M2T

OCL

ATL

IncQuery

QVTo

15

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

EMF

TMF

(Xte

xt)

GM

F

Epsi

lon

M2T

OC

L

Gra

phi

ti

EMFT

ATL

IncQ

uery

GM

T

UM

L2

UM

L2 T

oo

ls

Pap

yrus

MO

FScr

ipt

Mo

dis

co

VIA

TRA

2

UM

LX

QV

Td

QV

To

MM

T

Siri

us

Number of posts (2005-14)

16

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

EMF

TMF

(Xte

xt)

GM

F

Epsi

lon

M2T

OC

L

Gra

phi

ti

EMFT

ATL

IncQ

uery

GM

T

UM

L2

UM

L2 T

oo

ls

Pap

yrus

MO

FScr

ipt

Mo

dis

co

VIA

TRA

2

UM

LX

QV

Td

QV

To

MM

T

Siri

us

Number of posts (2012-14)

17

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

EMF

TMF

(Xte

xt)

GM

F

Epsi

lon

M2T

OC

L

Gra

phi

ti

EMFT

ATL

IncQ

uery

GM

T

UM

L2

UM

L2 T

oo

ls

Pap

yrus

MO

FScr

ipt

Mo

dis

co

VIA

TRA

2

UM

LX

QV

Td

QV

To

MM

T

Siri

us

Number of posts (2014)

18

Quiz

•  Which was the busiest year for Eclipse modelling-related forums? – 2009

– 2010 – 2013

19

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Number of posts/year

20

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

EMF

Xtext

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Observations

•  Textual modelling > graphical modelling •  Xtext and EMF still dominate the Eclipse

modelling community •  GMF has lost 90% of its forum activity since 2007 •  Overall forum activity seems to be declining since

2010 –  Steep drop in 2014 –  Maturity? –  Stackoverflow?

•  “EMF” -> 3.2K messages •  “Xtext” -> 1.6K messages

–  Wider Eclipse issue?

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