Our paper Blended Modeling in Commercial and Open-source Model-Driven Software Engineering Tools: A Systematic Study in collaboration with Malvina Latifaj, Jakob Pietron, Weixing Zhang, Federico Ciccozzi, Ivano Malavolta, Alexander Raschke, Jan-Philipp Steghöfer, and Regina Hebig has been accepted for publication in the International Journal on Software and Systems Modeling (SoSyM). Pre-print available.
Blended modeling aims to improve the user experience of modeling activities by prioritizing the seamless interaction with models through multiple notations over the consistency of the models. Inconsistency tolerance, thus, becomes an important aspect in such settings. To understand the potential of current commercial and open-source modeling tools to support blended modeling, we have designed and carried out a systematic study. We identify challenges and opportunities in the tooling aspect of blended modeling. Specifically, we investigate the user-facing and implementation-related characteristics of existing modeling tools that already support multiple types of notations and map their support for other blended aspects, such as inconsistency tolerance, and elevated user experience. For the sake of completeness, we have conducted a multivocal study, encompassing an academic review, and grey literature review. We have reviewed nearly 5,000 academic papers and nearly 1,500 entries of grey literature. We have identified 133 candidate tools, and eventually selected 26 of them to represent the current spectrum of modeling tools.