![List of Figures
1.1 MDA pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Model transformation pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 MDA practise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Alternative MDA practise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 MDA improved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.6 Integrating platform dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.7 Example platform dependency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.8 Platform model overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.9 (a) Software product line configurator and (b) MDA configurator 12
1.10 Software product line generator transformation . . . . . . . . . 13
1.11 Dissertation structure overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1 Impact of MDA on the development process (source: [KWB03]). 21
2.2 A screenshot of an instant messaging client running on a PC. . . 23
2.3 A UML Class diagram of the instant messaging client CIM. . . . 24
2.4 A UML Class diagram showing part of the instant messaging
client PIM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.5 A UML Class diagram showing part of the instant messaging
client PSM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.6 The 4-level OMG meta-modelling framework. . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.7 EMOF meta-model part for MOF Classes (source: [OMG06b]). . 28
2.8 Root diagram of the UML Kernel package (source: [OMG05c]). . 29
2.9 A simplified subset of the Ecore meta-model (source: [BSM+
03]). 30
2.10 A screenshot of the Ecore editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.11 Applet Stereotype applied to a UML Class. . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.12 UML meta-model part for Profiles (source: [OMG05c]). . . . . . 32
2.13 The Applet Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.14 Eclipse UML2 and Ecore share the common notion of EAnno-
tations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
xvii](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/10712-250404155926-ec1cf53c/85/Platform-Ontologies-for-the-Model-Driven-Architecture-1st-Edition-Dennis-Wagelaar-24-320.jpg)
![xviii LIST OF FIGURES
2.15 A screenshot of the Eclipse UML2 editor after the Applet profile
was “defined”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.16 Object diagram of the Applet stereotype applied to the Instant-
MessagingClient class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.17 Relationships between QVT meta-models (source: [OMG05a]). . 36
2.18 ATL superimposition example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.1 An example classification of wine-related concepts in OWL. . . . 51
3.2 Some example OWL individuals in the wine domain. . . . . . . 51
3.3 An example OWL property in the wine domain. . . . . . . . . . 53
3.4 An example of an OWL subproperty and a transitive property. . 54
3.5 Example of symmetric, functional and inverse properties. . . . . 54
3.6 Example of “allValuesFrom” and “someValuesFrom” property
restrictions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.7 Example of a “hasValue” property restriction. . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.8 Example of equivalence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.9 Example of identity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.10 Example of “intersectionOf”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.11 Example of “unionOf”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.1 Partial view of the base platform ontology . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.2 Partial view of an ontology for describing Java runtime environ-
ments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.3 Partial view of an ontology for describing the J2ME Personal
Profile 1.0 specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.4 Partial platform description for the Sharp Zaurus SL-C1000 PDA 71
5.1 A UML Class diagram showing part of the instant messenger
model for the Jabber feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.2 The feature model of the instant messenger product line. . . . . 86
5.3 The feature model of the instant messenger product line. . . . . 87
5.4 The meta-model of the instant messenger configuration language. 91
5.5 An example instant messenger configuration model as displayed
by the EMF model editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
6.1 The extended feature model of the instant messenger product
line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.2 The feature model of the TransformationConfig feature. . . . . . 103
6.3 The meta-model of the instant messenger configuration language.104
6.4 The meta-model for PlatformKit models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.5 Flowchart of the platform profiling scenario . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6.6 The PlatformKit model for the instant messenger configuration
language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.7 Flowchart of the deployment scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/10712-250404155926-ec1cf53c/85/Platform-Ontologies-for-the-Model-Driven-Architecture-1st-Edition-Dennis-Wagelaar-25-320.jpg)
![This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Christianity Viewed in Relation to the Present State of Society
and Opinion.
Author: François Guizot
Release date: November 30, 2019 [eBook #60815]
Most recently updated: October 17, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Don Kostuch
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIANITY
VIEWED IN RELATION TO THE PRESENT STATE OF SOCIETY AND
OPINION. ***](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/10712-250404155926-ec1cf53c/85/Platform-Ontologies-for-the-Model-Driven-Architecture-1st-Edition-Dennis-Wagelaar-31-320.jpg)
![[Transcriber's note: This production is based on
https://archive.org/details/christianityview00guiz/page/n6]
Christianity Viewed In Relation To
The Present State Of Society And
Opinion.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/10712-250404155926-ec1cf53c/85/Platform-Ontologies-for-the-Model-Driven-Architecture-1st-Edition-Dennis-Wagelaar-32-320.jpg)
![Preface.
In the First Series of these Meditations, I gave a summary of the
facts and dogmas which constitute, as I think, the foundation and
the essence of the Christian Religion. In the next series I retraced
the Reawakening of Faith and of Christian Life during the
nineteenth century in France, both amongst Romanists and
Protestants. With Christianity thus reanimated and resuscitated
amongst us, after having passed through one of its most violent
trials, I confronted the principal philosophical systems which in
these days reject and combat it: Rationalism, Positivism, Pantheism,
Materialism, Scepticism. I essayed to determine the fundamental
error which seems to me to characterize each of those systems,
and to have always rendered them inadequate to the office either
of satisfying or explaining man's nature and destiny. That series of
my Meditations I concluded with these words: "Why is it that
Christianity, in spite of all the attacks which it has had to undergo,
and all the ordeals through which it has been made to pass, has for
eighteen centuries satisfied infinitely better the spontaneous
instincts and invincible cravings of humanity? Is it not because it is
pure from the errors which vitiate the different systems of
philosophy just passed in review? because it fills up the void that
those systems either create or leave in the human soul? because,
in short, it conducts man nigher to the fountain of light?" [Footnote
1]
[Footnote 1: Meditations on the Actual State of
Christianity. Eighth Meditation: Impiety, Recklessness,
Perplexity, p. 336.]
Far from wishing to elude any of the difficulties of this question, I
would now set Christianity in contact with the ideas and forces that](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/10712-250404155926-ec1cf53c/85/Platform-Ontologies-for-the-Model-Driven-Architecture-1st-Edition-Dennis-Wagelaar-35-320.jpg)
Platform Ontologies for the Model Driven Architecture 1st Edition Dennis Wagelaar
- 1. Platform Ontologies for the Model Driven Architecture 1st Edition Dennis Wagelaar pdf download https://ebookfinal.com/download/platform-ontologies-for-the- model-driven-architecture-1st-edition-dennis-wagelaar/ Explore and download more ebooks or textbooks at ebookfinal.com
- 2. We believe these products will be a great fit for you. Click the link to download now, or visit ebookfinal to discover even more! Convergent Architecture Building Model Driven J2EE Systems with UML 1st Edition Richard Hubert https://ebookfinal.com/download/convergent-architecture-building- model-driven-j2ee-systems-with-uml-1st-edition-richard-hubert/ Sustaining the Military Enterprise An Architecture for a Lean Transformation 1st Edition Dennis F.X. Mathaisel https://ebookfinal.com/download/sustaining-the-military-enterprise-an- architecture-for-a-lean-transformation-1st-edition-dennis-f-x- mathaisel/ Model driven development with executable uml 1st ed Edition Dragan Milicev https://ebookfinal.com/download/model-driven-development-with- executable-uml-1st-ed-edition-dragan-milicev/ Advances and applications in model driven engineering 1st Edition García Díaz https://ebookfinal.com/download/advances-and-applications-in-model- driven-engineering-1st-edition-garcia-diaz/
- 3. Engineering Service Oriented Systems A Model Driven Approach 1st Edition Bill Karakostas https://ebookfinal.com/download/engineering-service-oriented-systems- a-model-driven-approach-1st-edition-bill-karakostas/ Model Driven Software Development Integrating Quality Assurance Premier Reference Source 1st Edition Jorg Rech https://ebookfinal.com/download/model-driven-software-development- integrating-quality-assurance-premier-reference-source-1st-edition- jorg-rech/ Universities and Indian Country Case Studies in Tribal Driven Research 1st Edition Dennis K. Norman https://ebookfinal.com/download/universities-and-indian-country-case- studies-in-tribal-driven-research-1st-edition-dennis-k-norman/ Molecular Neurobiology for the Clinician 1st Edition Dennis S. Charney https://ebookfinal.com/download/molecular-neurobiology-for-the- clinician-1st-edition-dennis-s-charney/ A New Agenda for Architecture The Autopoiesis of Architecture II 1st Edition Patrik Schumacher https://ebookfinal.com/download/a-new-agenda-for-architecture-the- autopoiesis-of-architecture-ii-1st-edition-patrik-schumacher/
- 5. Platform Ontologies for the Model Driven Architecture 1st Edition Dennis Wagelaar Digital Instant Download Author(s): Dennis Wagelaar ISBN(s): 9789054874829, 9054874821 Edition: 1 File Details: PDF, 5.90 MB Year: 2008 Language: english
- 6. Date: 07/04/2008 Promoters: Prof. Dr. Viviane Jonckers, Dr. Ragnhild Van Der Straeten Platform Ontologies for the Model-Driven Architecture Dennis Wagelaar A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science FACULTY OF SCIENCE Department of Computer Science System and Software Engineering Lab
- 7. Print: Flin Graphic Group, Oostkamp c Dennis Wagelaar c 2008 Uitgeverij VUBPRESS Brussels University Press VUBPRESS is an imprint of ASP nv (Academic and Scientific Publishers nv) Ravensteingalerij 28 B-1000 Brussels Tel. ++32 (0)2 289 26 50 Fax ++32 (0)2 289 26 59 E-mail: info@vubpress.be www.vubpress.be ISBN 978 90 5487 482 9 NUR 992 Legal deposit D/2008/11.161/026 All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other wise, without the prior written permission of the author and the publisher. -
- 8. Abstract Software systems not only continue to grow more complex, but they are often required to run on multiple platforms as well. Common personal computer platforms are Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Mac OS X on a PowerPC or x86 hardware architecture. Hand-held devices present another range of platforms, such as Microsoft Windows Mobile, Qtopia/Embedix and Symbian running on an ARM or RISC hardware architecture. Each of these platforms look different from a software developer’s point of view and requires the devel- opment of different software versions for each platform. This platform diversity makes it increasingly difficult to maintain software that is portable to multi- ple platforms. Software developers not only have to develop multiple software versions, but they also have to keep these versions synchronised and consistent in their common functionality. In addition to this, platform technologies tend to evolve. When developing software for an evolving platform, software developers have to take into account that the users may use older versions of the platform. Developers may be confronted with the fact that their software is no longer compatible with an older version of the platform, because they do all their development and testing on the latest version of the platform. If the current range of platforms can already be considered diverse, the vi- sion of Ambient Intelligence only amplifies this diversity. Ambient Intelligence aims for a user-driven, service-based computing environment that includes per- sonal devices as well as special-purpose embedded devices in the environment. The hardware and software combinations in such devices can vary widely. The Object Management Group has acknowledged the problem of platform diversity by introducing the Model Driven Architecture (MDA). The MDA is centred around the use of software models. The software models provide a means to create partial, platform-independent software specifications that make use of platform abstractions. These abstractions are refined to platform- specific software models in a later stage of the development life cycle, using i
- 9. ii Abstract model transformations. Currently, these model transformations implicitly as- sume a target platform for the platform-specific models. If other platforms must be targeted, new model transformations have to be created. This intro- duces a considerable maintenance burden for each additional platform we want to support. It is possible to split up a model transformation into multiple refinement transformation steps, each of which introduces some partial platform depen- dencies into the software model. This makes it possible to reuse a refinement transformation for other platforms. It is not clear when we can reuse a refine- ment transformation, however, since the platform dependencies it introduces are still implicit. When combining multiple refinement transformations for a target platform, most of the effort goes into checking that (1) the refinement transformations work together and that (2) they are executed in the right order. It is an extra burden to also (3) consider the platform dependencies that each refinement transformation introduces. One approach is to test the generated software on the target platform to tell if the software works on that platform. Testing on each platform is a time-consuming activity, however, and may even leave certain incompatibilities undetected until after deployment. Another approach is to use an automated configuration process that enforces the satisfaction of constraints, including platform dependency constraints. Such a configuration process does not exist for the MDA today. We propose to use an explicit platform model, which serves as a vocabu- lary for describing platforms. This vocabulary is used as a basis to express platform instances as well as platform dependencies. By explicitly specifying the platform dependencies for each reusable refinement transformation, each transformation can be guaranteed as valid for a well-defined class of platforms. Because platform instances use the same platform model as a vocabulary, the platform model enables us to determine which platforms satisfy which plat- form dependencies. The platform model is expressed in the Web Ontology Language (OWL), which is an extensible language for describing ontologies. Ontologies are commonly used to represent domain knowledge and to provide a community of users with a controlled vocabulary. We use the OWL DL variant, which corresponds to description logic (DL) and allows us to apply automatic reasoning. We also propose a configuration process for the MDA that is based on Software Product Lines (SPLs). Within the field of software engineering, most research on configuration has been conducted by the SPL community. SPLs integrate a number of software-intensive products that share a signifi- cant amount of functionality. As such, any software that is developed using the MDA approach can be considered as an SPL, since each platform-specific software product shares significant functionality with other platform-specific versions of that software product.
- 10. Samenvatting Software systemen worden niet alleen steeds complexer, maar worden ook vaak vereist om op meerdere platformen te werken. Veel voorkomende personal computer platformen zijn Microsoft Windows, Linux en Apple Mac OS X op een PowerPC of x86 hardware architectuur. Draagbare apparaten vormen een bijkomend scala aan platformen, zoals Microsoft Windows Mobile, Qtopie/Em- bedix en Symbian draaiende op een ARM of RISC architectuur. Elk van deze platformen ziet er anders uit voor een software-ontwikkelaar en vereist de on- twikkeling van verschillende software-versies voor ieder platform. Deze diver- siteit in platformen maakt het steeds moeilijker om software te onderhouden die overdraagbaar is naar meerdere platformen. Software-ontwikkelaars dienen niet alleen meerdere software-versies te ontwikkelen, maar zij moeten deze ver- sies ook gesynchroniseerd en consistent houden wat hun gemeenschappelijke functionaliteit betreft. Daarbij komt nog dat platform-technologieën vaak evolueren. Wanneer software-ontwikkelaars software schrijven voor een evoluerend platform, moe- ten zij er rekening mee houden dat de gebruikers weleens oudere versies van dat platform kunnen gebruiken. De ontwikkelaars kunnen hierbij geconfron- teerd worden met het feit dat hun software niet langer compatibel is met een oudere versie van het platform, omdat het ontwikkelen en testen plaatsvindt op de nieuwste versie van het platform. Als we het huidige scala aan platformen al divers vinden, dan wordt deze di- versiteit alleen maar versterkt door de visie van Ambient Intelligence. Ambient Intelligence doelt op een door de gebruiker gedreven en op diensten gebaseerde computeromgeving, welke zowel persoonlijke apparaten als gespecialiseerde in- gebouwde apparaten omvat. De hardware- en softwarecombinaties in zulke apparaten kunnen sterk variëren. De Object Management Group heeft het probleem van platform-diversiteit onderkend door de introductie van de Model Driven Architecture (MDA). De MDA is opgebouwd rond het gebruik van softwaremodellen. De softwaremod- iii
- 11. iv Samenvatting ellen bieden een middel om partiële, platform-onafhankelijke software specifi- caties te maken die gebruik maken van platform-abstracties. Deze abstracties worden verfijnd naar platform-specifieke softwaremodellen in een later stadium van de software-ontwikkelingscyclus met behulp van model transformaties. Op dit moment gaan deze transformaties impliciet uit van een doelplatform voor de platform-specifieke modellen. Als er andere platformen ondersteund dienen te worden, moeten er nieuwe modeltransformaties gemaakt worden. Dit in- troduceert een aanzienlijke onderhoudslast voor ieder extra platform dat we willen ondersteunen. Het is mogelijk om een modeltransformatie op te splitsen in meerdere stap- pen van verfijningstransformaties, waarbij elke stap enkele partiële platform- afhankelijkheden in het softwaremodel introduceert. Dit maakt het mogelijk om een verfijningstransformatie te hergebruiken voor andere platformen. Het is echter niet duidelijk wanneer we een verfijningstransformatie kunnen herge- bruiken, omdat de platform-afhankelijkheden die zij introduceert nog steeds impliciet zijn. Wanneer er meerdere verfijningstransformaties gecombineerd worden voor een doelplatform, gaat de meeste inspanning naar het controleren dat (1) de verfijningstransformaties samenwerken en dat (2) zij in de juiste volgorde wor- den uitgevoerd. Het is een extra last om ook (3) de platform-afhankelijkheden te beschouwen die elke verfijningstransformatie introduceert. Een mogelijke benadering is om de gegenereerde software te testen op het doelplatform om erachter te komen of de software werkt op dat platform. Het testen op elk platform is echter een tijdrovende bezigheid en laat mogelijk zelfs bepaalde incompatibiliteiten onopgemerkt tot na de installatie. Een andere benadering is om een geautomatiseerd configuratieproces te gebruiken dat het voldoen aan bepaalde beperkingen afdwingt, inclusief platform-afhankelijkheidsbeperkingen. Een dergelijk configuratieproces bestaat vandaag de dag nog niet voor de MDA. Wij stellen voor om een expliciet platform-model te gebruiken, welke dient als vocabulaire voor het beschrijven van platformen. Dit vocabulaire wordt gebruikt als een basis voor het beschrijven van zowel platform-instanties als platform-afhankelijkheden. Door het expliciet beschrijven van de platform- afhankelijkheden voor elke herbruikbare verfijningstransformatie kan elke trans- formatie als geldig worden gegarandeerd voor een welgedefiniëerde klasse van platformen. Omdat platform-instanties hetzelfde platform-model gebruiken als vocabulaire, stelt het platform-model ons in staat om te bepalen welke plat- formen aan welke platform-afhankelijkheden voldoen. Het platform-model is uitgedrukt in de Web Ontology Language (OWL), wat een uitbreidbare taal is voor het beschrijven van ontologieën. Wij gebruiken de OWL DL variant, welke overeenkomt met description logic (DL) en ons toestaat om automatische redenering toe te passen. Wij stellen ook een configuratieproces voor de MDA voor dat gebaseerd is op Software Product Lines (SPLs). Binnen het veld van software engineering is
- 12. Samenvatting v het meeste onderzoek naar configuratie uitgevoerd door de SPL-gemeenschap. SPLs integreren een aantal software-intensieve producten die een aanzienlijke hoeveelheid aan functionaliteit gemeen hebben. Als zodanig kan alle software die ontwikkeld is met behulp van de MDA beschouwd worden als een SPL, omdat elk platform-specifiek softwareproduct een aanzienlijke hoeveelheid aan functionaliteit gemeen heeft met andere platform-specifieke versies van dat softwareproduct.
- 14. Acknowledgements This is where I show my gratitude to all the people who made my Ph.D. possi- ble. But before I start, I’d like to sketch some of the context in which I worked on my PhD. In August 2002, I moved from Losser, the Netherlands, to Brus- sels, Belgium to work on my Ph.D. at the System and Software Engineering Lab of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). I quickly learnt that the VUB was very different from the University of Twente, where I had studied for my Master’s degree. What I did not learn so quickly was how to integrate in such a different environment. Combined with my efforts to make life in Brussels work out, this took quite a bit of my time and attention. As a result, I’m finishing off this dissertation after almost six years in 2008. The main hallmark of the VUB is that it takes its liberal stance seriously. I was really free in my choices, which also required a lot more independence on my part. Prof. Dr. Viviane Jonckers not only gave me the opportunity and freedom to pursue my own research topic, but she also had the patience for me to find my way through. I’d like to thank her for her confidence and support throughout these years. I hope to reward her confidence by closing off my Ph.D. period with this dissertation. I would also like to thank Dr. Ragnhild Van der Straeten, Dr. Wim Van- derperren and Dr. Dirk Deridder for taking their time to discuss my research topic in detail with me. They have also read drafts of this dissertation in detail and provided me with valuable comments and directions. I owe my gratitude to my Ph.D. committee members, for taking the time to read this dissertation in detail and for providing me with valuable comments. Apart from my advisors Viviane and Ragnhild, the committee members are Prof. Dr. Jean Bézivin, Prof. Dr. Yolande Berbers, Prof. Dr. Theo D’Hondt, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang De Meuter and Prof. Dr. Olga Detroyer. I would also like to thank all of my colleagues and former colleagues, who have made my job more pleasant and were always there for interesting chats: Dr. Bart Wydaeghe, Dr. Wim Vanderperren, Davy Suvée, Dr. Bart Ver- vii
- 15. viii Acknowledgements heecke, Miro Casanova, Dr. Ragnhild Van der Straeten, Dr. Maja D’Hondt, Dr. Marı́a Agustina Cibrán, Bruno De Fraine, Niels Joncheere, Mathieu Braem and my most recent colleagues Dr. Dirk Deridder, Andrés Yie, Mario Sanchez, Oscar González, Eline Philips and Dr. Andy Kellens. Special thanks go to Andres for test-driving my PlatformKit tool support and actually reading the manual. I would also like to thank Bruno De Fraine and Wim Vanderperren for managing the lab’s servers with me. It provides an enormous freedom to be able to manage your own servers, but it is also good to know that I could share the responsibility with them. I really valued the unique situation in which our lab members contributed to our own servers. Many thanks also go to the ATLAS team, with Jean Bézivin, Frédéric Jouault and Freddy Allilaire in particular, for sharing their ideas on model- driven engineering and letting me into the ATL community. Their open stance have allowed me to thoroughly experiment with model transformation and seeing my efforts fed back into the ATL (and AM3) tool. I hope for a fruitful collaboration in the future as well. I’d like to thank my friends, Mark van Benthem, Joost Noppen, Frank Vlaardingerbroek and Tjim Wijering, for staying in touch after I’ve moved to Belgium. Even after not seeing each other for a long time, they have not forgotten about me. I would like to thank Joost in particular for even finding the time to proof-read my dissertation. I would like to thank my parents, André and Paulien, who have always supported my studies from the very beginning. They weren’t happy to see me leave to Belgium, but have never complained about it. They have in fact provided all the support they could for making my life in Belgium easier, so that I could spend more attention on my thesis. I would also like to thank Cynthia’s parents, Philip and Frances, my brother Edwin and his wife Anja, as well as my uncle Gerard, for all their help with our house. If it weren’t for our families, we wouldn’t be living in our new house in Mechelen. Finally, I’d like to thank my girlfriend Cynthia for being with me all this time. We moved to Belgium together in 2002 and we’ve also endured our common hardships here. Together, we’ve managed to find our place in Belgium. Cynthia has always supported me during this time and she kept a close eye on my thesis progress as well. Finishing this dissertation opens up our future to new opportunities, starting in our new home in Mechelen.
- 16. Dankwoord Dit is waar ik mijn dank toon aan alle mensen die mijn doctoraat mogelijk hebben gemaakt. Maar voordat ik van wal steek, zou ik graag de context waarin ik aan mijn doctoraat gewerkt heb schetsen. In augustus 2002 ben ik verhuisd uit Losser, Nederland, naar Brussel, België, om aan mijn doctoraat te werken bij het Systeem en Software Engineering Lab van de Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Ik leerde al snel dat de VUB sterk verschilde van de Universiteit Twente, waar ik voor mijn ingenieursdiploma heb gestudeerd. Wat ik niet zo snel leerde was hoe te integreren in een zo verschillende omgeving. Samen met mijn inspanningen om mijn leven in Brussel in goede banen te leiden, nam dit een behoorlijk deel van mijn tijd en aandacht in beslag. Als gevolg leg ik de laatste hand aan dit proefschrift na bijna zes jaar in 2008. Het hoofdkenmerk van de VUB is dat zij haar liberale standpunt serieus neemt. Ik was echt vrij in mijn keuzes, wat ook een stuk meer onafhankeli- jkheid van mijn kant vereiste. Prof. Dr. Viviane Jonckers gaf mij niet alleen de kans en vrijheid om mijn eigen onderzoeksonderwerp na te volgen, maar ze had ook het geduld om mij een weg te laten banen. Ik wil haar graag be- danken voor haar vertrouwen en ondersteuning gedurende deze jaren. Ik hoop haar vertrouwen te belonen door mijn doctoraatsperiode af te ronden met dit proefschrift. Ik wil ook graag Dr. Ragnhild Van Der Straeten, Dr. Wim Vanderperren en Dr. Dirk Deridder bedanken voor hun tijd waarin zij mijn onderzoekson- derwerp in detail met mij hebben besproken. Zij hebben ook conceptversies van dit proefschrift in detail doorgelezen en hebben hebben mij voorzien van waardevolle commentaren en mogelijkheden voor verbetering. Ik ben dank verschuldigd aan mijn juryleden die de tijd hebben genomen om dit proefschrift in detail te lezen en mij van waardevolle commentaren voorzien hebben. Naast mijn promotoren, Viviane en Ragnhild, bestaat mijn jury uit Prof. Dr. Jean Bézivin, Prof. Dr. Yolande Berbers, Prof. Dr. Theo D’Hondt, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang De Meuter en Prof. Dr. Olga Detroyer. ix
- 17. x Dankwoord Ik wil ook graag al mijn collega’s en voormalige collega’s bedanken voor het aangenamer maken van mijn werk en het feit dat zij er altijd waren voor interessante gesprekken: Dr. Bart Wydaeghe, Dr. Wim Vanderperren, Davy Suvée, Dr. Bart Verheecke, Miro Casanova, Dr. Ragnhild Van Der Straeten, Dr. Maja D’Hondt, Dr. Marı́a Agustina Cibrán, Bruno De Fraine, Niels Joncheere, Mathieu Braem en mijn meest recente collega’s Dr. Dirk Derid- der, Andrés Yie, Mario Sanchez, Oscar González, Eline Philips en Dr. Andy Kellens. Een speciaal dankwoord gaat naar Andres voor het testen van mijn PlatformKit software en het daadwerkelijk lezen van de handleiding. Ik wil ook graag Bruno De Fraine en Wim Vanderperren bedanken voor het beheren van de servers op het lab samen met mij. Het verschaft een enorme vrijheid om je eigen servers te kunnen beheren, maar het is tegelijkertijd ook goed om te weten dat ik de verantwoordelijkheid kon delen met hen. Ik stelde de unieke situatie waarin de leden van ons lab bijdroegen aan onze eigen servers zeer op prijs. Mijn dankbaarheid gaat ook naar het ATLAS team, met Jean Bézivin, Frédéric Jouault and Freddy Allilaire in het bijzonder, voor het delen van hun ideeën omtrent model-driven engineering en het feit dat zij mij binnengelaten hebben in de ATL gemeenschap. Hun open instelling heeft mij toegelaten om grondig te experimenteren met modeltransformatie en tegelijkertijd mijn inspanningen teruggekoppeld te zien in de ATL (en AM3) software. Ik hoop ook voor de toekomst op een vruchtbare samenwerking. Ik wil graag mijn vrienden, Mark van Benthem, Joost Noppen, Frank Vlaardingerbroek en Tjim Wijering, bedanken voor het feit dat zij contact gehouden hebben nadat ik naar België verhuisd ben. Zelfs na elkaar gedurende lange tijd niet gezien te hebben, ben ik nog niet vergeten. Ik zou graag Joost in het bijzonder bedanken voor het feit dat hij zelfs de tijd heeft gevonden om mijn proefschrift na te lezen. Ik wil graag mijn ouders, André en Paulien, bedanken voor het feit dat zij altijd mijn studie vanaf het begin ondersteund hebben. Zij zagen mij niet graag naar België vertrekken, maar hebben er nooit over geklaagd. Zij hebben daarentegen alle ondersteuning gegeven die zij konden bieden om mijn verblijf in België aangenamer te maken, zodat ik meer aandacht kon besteden aan mijn thesis. Ik wil ook graag Cynthia’s ouders, Philip en Frances, mijn broer Edwin en zijn vrouw Anja, alsook mijn oom Gerard, bedanken voor al hun hulp met ons huis. Als onze familie er niet was, zouden we niet in ons nieuwe huis in Mechelen gewoond hebben.
- 18. Dankwoord xi Tot slot wil ik mijn vriendin Cynthia bedanken dat ze al deze tijd bij me is geweest. We verhuisden samen naar België in 2002 en we hebben hier ook onze gezamenlijke moeilijkheden doorstaan. Samen zijn we erin geslaagd onze plaats in België te vinden. Cynthia heeft mij tijdens deze periode altijd ondersteund en zij hield de vinger aan de pols waar het de voortgang van mijn thesis betrof. Het afronden van dit proefschrift opent onze toekomst voor nieuwe kansen, beginnend in onze nieuwe huis in Mechelen.
- 20. Table of Contents Abstract i Samenvatting iii Acknowledgements vii Dankwoord ix Table of Contents xiii List of Figures xvii List of Tables xxi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1.1 Model Driven Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.2 Research Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.3 Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.3.1 Explicit Platform Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.3.2 Platform-Driven Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.4 Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1.5 Dissertation structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2 Model-Driven Architecture 19 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 2.2 Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.2.1 Computation Independent Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2.2.2 Platform Independent Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 2.2.3 Platform Specific Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 xiii
- 21. xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS 2.2.4 Platform Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.3 Meta-models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 2.3.1 Meta Object Facility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 2.3.2 Eclipse Modeling Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2.3.3 The role of UML in the MDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 2.3.4 Stereotype applications in EMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 2.4 Model transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.4.1 MOF Query/View/Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 2.4.2 ATLAS Transformation Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 2.4.3 PIM-to-PSM refinements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 2.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 3 Ontologies 49 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3.2 Simple named classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 3.3 Individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 3.4 Simple properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 3.5 Property restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 3.6 Ontology mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 3.7 Complex classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 3.8 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 4 Platform modelling 61 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 4.2 Dealing with platform diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 4.3 A platform vocabulary ontology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 4.4 Extending the platform ontology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 4.4.1 Automatic generation of Java platform ontologies . . . . 70 4.5 Platform instance specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 4.6 Platform dependency constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 4.6.1 Classification of platform dependency constraints . . . . 72 4.6.2 Satisfaction of platform dependency constraints . . . . . 74 4.7 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 4.7.1 Constraint interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 4.7.2 Performance of determining constraint satisfaction . . . . 76 4.8 Related work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 4.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 5 Software Product Lines 81 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 5.2 Commonality and Variability Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 5.3 Feature modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 5.3.1 Automated analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
- 22. TABLE OF CONTENTS xv 5.4 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 5.4.1 Configuration language meta-model . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 5.4.2 Configuration models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 5.4.3 Configuration transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 5.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 6 Configuration of MDA-based product lines 99 6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 6.2 Managing MDA configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 6.3 Using models for configuration management . . . . . . . . . . . 101 6.3.1 Feature modelling for the MDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 6.3.2 Configuration DSMLs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 6.4 Platform-aware configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 6.4.1 Profiling against platform instances . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 6.4.2 Platform-driven deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 6.5 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 6.5.1 Model transformations are not features . . . . . . . . . . 111 6.5.2 Scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 6.6 Related work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 6.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 7 Tool support 117 7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 7.2 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 7.2.1 Jar2UML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 7.3 Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 7.3.1 Setting up a Model-Driven Software Product Line . . . . 120 7.3.2 Extracting Platform Dependencies of Third-party Com- ponents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 7.3.3 Modelling Platform Dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 7.3.4 Setting up a Platform-Aware Configuration Language . . 131 7.3.5 Platform-Driven Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 7.3.6 Platform-Driven Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 7.4 ATL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 7.4.1 Superimposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 7.4.2 Modularised meta-models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 7.4.3 Stereotypes as meta-classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 7.4.4 Debugging support for multiple transformation modules/li- braries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 7.5 Limitations and future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 7.5.1 Performance and memory usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 7.5.2 Automatic platform discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 7.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
- 23. xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS 8 Conclusion 157 8.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 8.2 Thesis statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 8.3 Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 8.3.1 A common platform domain model . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 8.3.2 A method for describing platform dependencies and plat- form instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 8.3.3 A framework for platform dependency management . . . 161 8.3.4 A framework for platform-driven optimisation . . . . . . 162 8.3.5 A case study that applies the explicit platform model in an MDA/SPL setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 8.3.6 Tool support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 8.4 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 8.4.1 Generative vs. reflective adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 8.4.2 Platform modelling language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 8.4.3 Scope and reusability of our approach . . . . . . . . . . . 167 8.5 Future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 8.5.1 Automatic platform discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 8.5.2 Setting up additional platform ontologies . . . . . . . . . 169 8.5.3 In-depth analysis of ATL improvements . . . . . . . . . . 170 8.5.4 Application in other domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 A Ontology transformations 175 A.1 UML2ToPackageAPIOntology.atl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 A.2 UML2ToAPIOntology.atl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 A.3 UML2Comparison.atl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 A.4 UML2CompatibilityComparison.atl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 A.5 Parallel build script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 B ConstraintSet sorting algorithm 191 B.1 TreeSorter.java . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 B.2 HierarchyComparator.java . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 C Example index page for PlatformKit deployment 195 C.1 index.html . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Bibliography 199 Index 208
- 24. List of Figures 1.1 MDA pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2 Model transformation pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.3 MDA practise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.4 Alternative MDA practise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.5 MDA improved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.6 Integrating platform dependencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.7 Example platform dependency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.8 Platform model overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.9 (a) Software product line configurator and (b) MDA configurator 12 1.10 Software product line generator transformation . . . . . . . . . 13 1.11 Dissertation structure overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2.1 Impact of MDA on the development process (source: [KWB03]). 21 2.2 A screenshot of an instant messaging client running on a PC. . . 23 2.3 A UML Class diagram of the instant messaging client CIM. . . . 24 2.4 A UML Class diagram showing part of the instant messaging client PIM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.5 A UML Class diagram showing part of the instant messaging client PSM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2.6 The 4-level OMG meta-modelling framework. . . . . . . . . . . 27 2.7 EMOF meta-model part for MOF Classes (source: [OMG06b]). . 28 2.8 Root diagram of the UML Kernel package (source: [OMG05c]). . 29 2.9 A simplified subset of the Ecore meta-model (source: [BSM+ 03]). 30 2.10 A screenshot of the Ecore editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 2.11 Applet Stereotype applied to a UML Class. . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.12 UML meta-model part for Profiles (source: [OMG05c]). . . . . . 32 2.13 The Applet Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 2.14 Eclipse UML2 and Ecore share the common notion of EAnno- tations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 xvii
- 25. xviii LIST OF FIGURES 2.15 A screenshot of the Eclipse UML2 editor after the Applet profile was “defined”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.16 Object diagram of the Applet stereotype applied to the Instant- MessagingClient class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.17 Relationships between QVT meta-models (source: [OMG05a]). . 36 2.18 ATL superimposition example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 3.1 An example classification of wine-related concepts in OWL. . . . 51 3.2 Some example OWL individuals in the wine domain. . . . . . . 51 3.3 An example OWL property in the wine domain. . . . . . . . . . 53 3.4 An example of an OWL subproperty and a transitive property. . 54 3.5 Example of symmetric, functional and inverse properties. . . . . 54 3.6 Example of “allValuesFrom” and “someValuesFrom” property restrictions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 3.7 Example of a “hasValue” property restriction. . . . . . . . . . . 57 3.8 Example of equivalence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 3.9 Example of identity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 3.10 Example of “intersectionOf”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 3.11 Example of “unionOf”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 4.1 Partial view of the base platform ontology . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 4.2 Partial view of an ontology for describing Java runtime environ- ments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 4.3 Partial view of an ontology for describing the J2ME Personal Profile 1.0 specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 4.4 Partial platform description for the Sharp Zaurus SL-C1000 PDA 71 5.1 A UML Class diagram showing part of the instant messenger model for the Jabber feature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 5.2 The feature model of the instant messenger product line. . . . . 86 5.3 The feature model of the instant messenger product line. . . . . 87 5.4 The meta-model of the instant messenger configuration language. 91 5.5 An example instant messenger configuration model as displayed by the EMF model editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 6.1 The extended feature model of the instant messenger product line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 6.2 The feature model of the TransformationConfig feature. . . . . . 103 6.3 The meta-model of the instant messenger configuration language.104 6.4 The meta-model for PlatformKit models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 6.5 Flowchart of the platform profiling scenario . . . . . . . . . . . 108 6.6 The PlatformKit model for the instant messenger configuration language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 6.7 Flowchart of the deployment scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
- 26. Discovering Diverse Content Through Random Scribd Documents
- 30. The Project Gutenberg eBook of Christianity Viewed in Relation to the Present State of Society and Opinion.
- 31. This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Christianity Viewed in Relation to the Present State of Society and Opinion. Author: François Guizot Release date: November 30, 2019 [eBook #60815] Most recently updated: October 17, 2024 Language: English Credits: Produced by Don Kostuch *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIANITY VIEWED IN RELATION TO THE PRESENT STATE OF SOCIETY AND OPINION. ***
- 32. [Transcriber's note: This production is based on https://archive.org/details/christianityview00guiz/page/n6] Christianity Viewed In Relation To The Present State Of Society And Opinion.
- 33. By M. Guizot. Translated Under The Superintendence Of The Author. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1871.
- 34. By The Same Author. The Essence Of Christianity. Post 8vo, 9s. 6d. "No one can open this book, and recollect the circumstances which produced it, without feeling that it is a valuable contribution to the literature of the present controversy." —Edinburgh Review. The Present State Of Christianity. Post 8vo, 10s. 6d. "A remarkable series of religious meditations. They form a sequel to a similar volume on the Essence of Christianity, published two years ago, and an introduction to a further series, in which M. Guizot proposes to treat the great questions of the history of Christianity, and the future destiny of the Christian religion. The book is one of great interest."—Pall Mall Gazette.
- 35. Preface. In the First Series of these Meditations, I gave a summary of the facts and dogmas which constitute, as I think, the foundation and the essence of the Christian Religion. In the next series I retraced the Reawakening of Faith and of Christian Life during the nineteenth century in France, both amongst Romanists and Protestants. With Christianity thus reanimated and resuscitated amongst us, after having passed through one of its most violent trials, I confronted the principal philosophical systems which in these days reject and combat it: Rationalism, Positivism, Pantheism, Materialism, Scepticism. I essayed to determine the fundamental error which seems to me to characterize each of those systems, and to have always rendered them inadequate to the office either of satisfying or explaining man's nature and destiny. That series of my Meditations I concluded with these words: "Why is it that Christianity, in spite of all the attacks which it has had to undergo, and all the ordeals through which it has been made to pass, has for eighteen centuries satisfied infinitely better the spontaneous instincts and invincible cravings of humanity? Is it not because it is pure from the errors which vitiate the different systems of philosophy just passed in review? because it fills up the void that those systems either create or leave in the human soul? because, in short, it conducts man nigher to the fountain of light?" [Footnote 1] [Footnote 1: Meditations on the Actual State of Christianity. Eighth Meditation: Impiety, Recklessness, Perplexity, p. 336.] Far from wishing to elude any of the difficulties of this question, I would now set Christianity in contact with the ideas and forces that
- 36. seem most contrary to it, and with three of them more especially: Liberty, Independent Morality, and Science. Assertions are running the tour of the world that Christianity can accommodate itself neither to liberty nor science; that morality is essentially distinct and separate from Religious Faith. All this I hold to be false and highly prejudicial to the very cause of Liberty, of Morality, and of Science, which those who give utterance to such assertions affect to serve. I believe Christianity and Liberty to be not only compatible with each other, but necessary to each other. I regard Morality as naturally and intimately united to Religion. I am convinced that Christianity and Science need not make any mutual sacrifices, that neither has anything to fear from the other. This I establish in the first three Meditations of the present series. I then enter into the peculiar domain of Christianity, and determine what, in the presence of Liberty, of Philosophical Morality, and of Human Science, is the principle and what the bearing of "Christian Ignorance" and of Christian Faith. I finally apply to ideas their natural and inevitable law, the law which obliges them to express themselves in facts; I interrogate theory thus transformed into practice, and I show that Christianity alone supports this test victoriously. "Christian Life" becomes a forcible demonstration of the Legitimacy of Christian Faith. With these three Meditations the present series concludes. But to complete my undertaking, a final and capital question, the historical question, remains to be treated. Not that I think of retracing the History of Christianity throughout the whole of its course; such a design is far from my thoughts. I neither can nor wish to do more than to demonstrate the grand historical facts which, in my opinion, are in Christianity the stamp of a divine origin, and of a divine influence upon the development and destiny of the human race. Of these facts the following is a summary:— 1. The authority of the sacred books. 2. The primitive foundation of Christianity.
- 37. 3. The Christian Faith persistent from age to age. 4. The Church of Christ persistent also from age to age. 5. Romanism and Protestantism. 6. The different Antichristian crises, their character and their issue. It is upon these grand facts, and the questions which they suggest, that Historical Criticism has in our days exercised itself with ardour, as it is continuing to do; science, severe and daring, no invention of our epoch, but beyond all doubt one of its glories! If, after concluding this final series of my Meditations, I shall have succeeded in appreciating at their real value the exigencies made and the results obtained by Historical Criticism, where it has applied itself to the History of Christianity, I shall have realised the object which I proposed to myself on voluntarily entering upon this solemn and laborious study, where I meet with so much that is obscure, and so many quicksands. But as I draw near the close, a scruple seizes me. What have I been thinking of to persist obstinately in casting such a work into the midst of the events and the practical problems which are agitating the whole civilized world, and which are demanding their instant solution? What good result can I expect from studying the past history of the Christian Religion in my country, or even speculating upon its future prospects, when the actual condition of the present generation and the lot of that which is to succeed it on the stage, are subject to so many troubles and plunged in such darkness? The more narrowly I scrutinize generations—the honour and the destiny of which I have so much at heart, for my children form part of them—the more am I struck and disquieted by two facts: on the one side the general sentiment of fatigue and incertitude manifesting itself in society and in individuals: on the
- 38. other side not merely the grandeur but the unusual complexity of the questions agitated. I fear that, in her lassitude and in her sceptical vacillations, France may not render an exact account to herself of the problems and perils scattered over her path, of their number, their gravity, and their intimate connexion. I fear that, from not having an accurate conception of what her burthen is, and from not having the courage at once to weigh it well, the moment when she will have to bear it will come upon her with the necessary forces unmustered, and the necessary resolutions unformed. Almost every great epoch in history has been devoted to some question, if not an exclusive one, at least one dominant both in events and opinions, and around which the varying opinions and the efforts of men were concentrated. Not to go farther back than the era of modern history—in the sixteenth century the question of the unity of Religion and of its Reform; in the seventeenth century the question of pure monarchy, with its conquests abroad and administration at home; in the eighteenth century that of the operation of civil and religious liberty: such have been in France the different points on which ideas have culminated, the different objects which each social movement had specially in view. The systems of the day, although opposed, were clear; the struggles ardent but well defined. Men walked in those days on high roads; they did not wander about in the infinite complications of a labyrinth. And it is in a very labyrinth of questions and of ideas, of essays and events, diverse in character, confused, incoherent, contradictory, in which in these days the civilized world is plunged. I do not pretend to seize the clue to the labyrinth; I propose but to throw some light upon the chaos. First I turn my eyes to the external situation and relations of the States of Christendom, and consider the questions which concern the boundaries of territories and the distribution of populations
- 39. between distinct and independent nations. Formerly these questions were all reducible to one—the aggrandizement or the weakening of these different States, and the maintenance or the disturbance of that balance of forces which was called the balance of power in Europe. War and Diplomacy, Conquests and Treaties, discussed and settled this supreme question, of which Grotius expounded the theory, and Ancillon wrote the history. Now we are no longer in a situation so simple. What a complication of ideas: what ideas, novel and ill-defined, start up in these days to embarrass the course and entangle the relations of States! The question of races, the question of nationalities, the question of little states and of great political unities, the question of popular sovereignty and of its rights beyond the limits of nations as well as in their midst,—all these problems arise and cast into the shade, as a routine which has served its turn, the old public right and the maxims of the equilibrium of Europe, in their place seeking themselves to impose rules for regulating the territorial organizations and the external relations of States. Not that the old traditional policy of Europe does not mingle itself with, and exercise a powerful influence upon, the new ideas and questions which invade us; however intellectual theories and ambitions may change, the passions and interests of men are permanent. War and the right of conquest have made good their old pretensions, and this before our very eyes, without any respect for the principle of Nationalities and of Races, a principle nevertheless inscribed upon the very standards which the conquerors bore. Prussia has aggrandized herself in the name of German Unity, and at the very moment excluded from participating in the common affairs of Germany, the seven or eight millions of Germans who form part of the Empire of Austria. Prussia seized the petty German Republic of Frankfort, evidently against the will of its sovereign people, and Danish Schleswick does not yet form part of the political group, to the class of which she belongs by similarity of national origin and of language. Even while sheltering themselves under the Ægis of some general idea, selfish interests and rude
- 40. violence have not ceased to play a great part in the events which are passing before us, and if the ambition of Frederick the Second was not more legitimate, it was at least more logical than that of his successors. I am far from meaning to deny that the new ideas which men follow, and the desires which they evince, contain a certain part of truth, or to affirm that they have not a right to a certain share of influence. The identity of origin and of race, the possession in common of a single name and of one language, have a moral value very capable of becoming itself a political force; of this fair and prudent statesmanship is bound to hold account. But policy becomes chimerical and dangerous when it attributes to these new ideas and these aspirations a supreme authority and right to dominion; and what shocks all experience and common sense is to reject, as out of date, and no longer applicable, maxims which were the foundation of the public law of nations, and which, up to the present time, have presided over the relations of States. The equilibrium of Europe, the long duration of territorial agglomerations, the right of small states to exist and be independent, the ancient titles to government, and the respect for ancient treaties,—all these elements of European order have not succumbed, neither were they bound to succumb, to the theory of nationalities, and the fashionable doctrine of great political unities. What would not be said, and what would not be said with justice, if France had proclaimed that, as Belgium and Western Switzerland speak French, that, as their populations have, both in origin and manners, great affinities with our fellow countrymen in French Flanders and in Franche-Comté, the principal of National Unity requires their incorporation with France? Prince Metternich was wrong to say that Italy was a mere Geographical expression; there are certainly between the nations of Italy historical bonds, both intellectual and moral, which draw them towards one another, and repel from their territories all foreign domination. But this relationship, which may, and ought to be, a principle of union, did not impose upon Italy the form of political unity; and the régime
- 41. of a confederation of States might have been established in the peninsula and yet its liberation from the foreigner might have been secured, and a satisfaction might have been procured along our own frontier of the Alps, in the interests of our own security, and of that of Europe, for the preservation of the equilibrium of power. As soon as we look at the question with serious attention, we are forced to admit that any general application of the principle of nationalities, or of that of the great political unities, would throw the civilized world into such a confusion and fermentation as would be equally compromising to the internal liberties of nations, and to the preservation of peace between the different States. What if I had to sound the consequences of another principle, the sovereign authority which men also seek in these days to set up, the right, I mean, of populations, or of some part of a population, to dissolve the State with which they are connected, and to range themselves under another State, or to constitute themselves into new and independent States? What would become of the existence, or even of the very name of country, if it also were thus left to be dealt with according to the fluctuating wills of men, and the special interests of such or such of its members? There is in the destiny of men, whether of generations or individuals, a great part which they have no share in deciding or disposing of; a man does not choose his family, neither does he select his country; it is the natural state of man to live in the place where he is born, in the society where is his cradle. The cases are infinitely rare which can permit of the bonds being rent asunder by which man is attached to the soil, the citizen to the state; which can justify his leaving the bosom of his country, to order to separate himself from it absolutely, and to strive to lay the foundation of a new country. We have just been spectators of such an attempt; we have seen some of the States which form the nation of the United States of America, abjure this union, and erect themselves into an independent confederation. Wherefore? In order to maintain in their bosom the institution of slavery. By what right? By the right, it is said, of every people, or portion of a people, to change its government at discretion. The
- 42. States which remained faithful to the ancient American Confederation denied the principle and combatted the attempt. They succeeded in maintaining the federal Union, and in abolishing slavery. I am one of those who think that they had both right and reason on their side. Many years before the struggle commenced, one of the most eminent men in the United States, eminent by his character as well as his talents, a faithful representative of the interests of the States of the South, and an avowed apologist for negro slavery, Mr. Calhoun, did me the honour of transmitting to me all that he had written and said upon the subject. I was struck by the frank and earnest language with which he expressed his convictions, but no less by the futility of the efforts which he made to justify, upon general considerations and by historical necessities, the fact of slavery in his country. He would never have dared to paint it in its actual and living reality, as Mrs. Beecher Stowe has done in her romances of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and of "Dred," which have everywhere excited so much sympathy and emotion. I became every day more and more convinced that there was here a radical iniquity and a social wound, of which it was at last time to efface the shame and to conjure the danger. It was with the motive of maintaining the system of slavery that the States of the South undertook to break up the great American State which was their country. Motive detestable for a deplorable act! Our epoch, so unfortunate in many respects, has, in my opinion, been fortunate in this, that it produced a Republic, the greatest of all Republics of ancient or of modern times, which has afforded us the example of an uncompromising resistance to an illegitimate popular desire, and of an unflinching respect for the tutelary principles of the life of States. So far of the territorial questions, and those which concern the external relations of nations. Let me now speculate upon what the future has in store for those which involve domestic order and the organization of government. I meet here with the same confusion, the same complications, the same fluctuations between ideas and essays incoherent or inconsistent. At the base as at the summit of
- 43. society, the monarchy and the republic are in collision: the monarchy reigns in events; the republic ferments in opinions. The proposition is now universally received that society has the right not only to see clearly and to intervene in its own government, but to see so clearly and to intervene in such a manner as to justify the expression that it governs itself. The Constitutional Monarchy and the Republic profess each to attain this object: the one by a national representation, by the monarch's inviolability and his ministry's responsibility; the other by universal suffrage and the periodical elections of the great representatives of public power. But neither the constitutional monarchy nor the republic has as yet succeeded amongst us in obtaining firm possession of opinions and of events, of public confidence and of durable power. After and in spite of thirty-four years of prosperity, of peace, and of liberty, the constitutional power fell. The republic, accepted on its sudden appearance as the form of government which, as was affirmed, divided us least, after a few months of turbulent and sterile anarchy, fell also. In the place of the constitutional monarchy and of the republic there arose another form of government, a mixture of Dictatorship and of Republic, a sort of personal government combined with, universal suffrage. Will the essay have greater success? Events will decide. In the meantime let us be sincere with ourselves; the cause of so many painful and abortive attempts resides rather in the disposition of the people of France than in the acts of its governments: our revolutionary existence since 1789, our ambitious aspirings and disappointments, both equally immense, have left us at once very excited and very fatigued, full of impatience at the same time as of incertitude; we know not very well what we think or what we would have; our ideas are perplexed and confused; our wills vacillating and feeble; our minds have no fixed points, our conduct no determined objects; we often yield ourselves up readily against our better judgment, nay against our very wish, to whatever power extends its hand to seize us; but soon, very soon, we evince towards that power not a whit less exigency or unfairness; as soon
- 44. as we feel ourselves rid of our most urgent cause for disquietude, our discontent is as precipitate as was our submission in the hour of peril. We are again disposed to be quarrelsome, and demand instant action in the midst even of our doubts and hesitation. Our revolutions have taught us the lesson neither of resistance nor of patience. Yet these are virtues without which it is idle to propose to found any free government. I pass from political questions to social questions, and from the state of our political institutions to that of the relations existent between the different parts of society. I say the different parts to avoid saying different classes, for we cannot hear the word class pronounced without thinking that we are threatened with the re- establishment of privileges and exclusions, of that entire régime with its narrow compartments and inseparable barriers within which men were formerly enclosed, and ranked according to their origin, their name, their religion, or whatever other factitious or accidental qualification they might possess. In effect, this régime has fallen— fallen completely and definitively; all legal barriers have disappeared; all careers are open; all labour free: by individual merit and by labour every man may aspire to everything, and examples abound in confirmation of the principle. This was the great work, the great conquest of 1789; we celebrate it unceasingly, and we have often the air of forgetting that it ever occurred. The different ancient classes are still full of jealousy, of distrust, and of restless irritation; because they have to struggle for influence in the midst of liberty, they persuade themselves that they are still risking life and limb in defence of their situation and of their right. The Restoration was attacked and undermined on account, it was said, of the evils that the bourgeoisie had to endure, and the risks which it had to run at the hands of the nobles. Under the government of July, the working classes were told incessantly that they were the victims of the privileges and of the tyranny of the middle classes. Facts and actual events gave singularly the lie to such assertions. With what effect? In the hurry of passions and the intoxication of thought, men appealed to
- 45. theories which had been already often produced on the stage of the world,—theories which have only served to agitate, never to satisfy it. Landed property and capital, labour and wages, the artificial distribution of the means of material happiness amongst men, have served sometimes as the subjects of unjust recrimination, sometimes of chimerical expectations. Attacks were made upon things which the assailants had no right to take; and promises were made to give things which the promisers had not the power to give. I have heard it remarked by clear-sighted men who are good observers, that this malady of the mind is decreasing, and that even amongst the labouring classes themselves, false notions as to the conflict of capital and labour, as to the artificial settlement of wages, and the intervention of the State in the distribution of the material means of existence, are in discredit, and that the ambitious aspirings of the people, although continuing to be very democratic, have ceased to assume the form of Socialism. I ardently wish it were so: the passionate feelings which find their field in facts affecting the sphere of material subsistence, are the rudest, the most rebellious, and the most recalcitrant to the principles of the moral order: it is easier to deal with the aspirings of political ambition than with the ardent cravings for physical advantages. But I fear, I confess, that errors such as those which presented themselves under the names of Socialism and Communism, and which recently made so much noise, are not so discarded as we might hope them to be; that they are actually without a mouthpiece is not a sufficient proof of their defeat; materialism, and the evil instincts to which it leads or from which it springs, have penetrated very far amongst us, and a long period of social and moral progress in the midst of a society which has been well ordered will be necessary in order to surmount this danger. Several years ago I put to a great manufacturer of Manchester, who had been Mayor of that immense centre of industry, the following question: "What amongst you is the proportion between the
- 46. laborious and well-conducted workmen, who live respectably in their homes, set aside money in the savings' bank, and apply for books at the people's library, and the idle and disorderly workmen who pass their time at taverns, and only work so much as is necessary to furnish them with the means of subsistence?" After a moment's reflection, he replied: "The former are two-thirds of the whole number." After congratulating him, I added, "Allow me to put one more question. If you had amongst you great disorders, seditious assemblages, and riots, what would be the result?" "With us, sir," he said without hesitation, "the honest men are braver than the ill-conditioned ones." I congratulated him this time still more. In these questions I had touched the root of the evil which afflicts us. It is to their shortcomings in morality, to their disorderly lives, that we must attribute the favour with which the working classes receive the fallacious theories that menace social order. The condition of these classes is hard and full of distressing accidents; whoever regards it closely, and with a little fairness and sympathy, cannot fail to be deeply moved by all the sufferings which they have to support, the privations from which they have no chance of escape, and the efforts which they must make to ensure themselves a living at best monotonous and full of hazard. The happy ones of the earth feel sometimes alarm and irritation, when they hear from the pulpit descriptions purer and more true to the life than are to be met with in philanthropical novels, of the precarious state and distresses of the lower orders. Beyond doubt, from pictures of this nature should be scrupulously excluded everything that would seem to excite sentiments of hostility, or that would set one class against another; still as the upper classes must resign themselves to the spectacle, it devolves more especially upon Christian Painters to place it before them. Nothing but strong moral convictions, and the habits of well living amongst the labouring classes, can furnish them with efficacious means of struggling against the temptations and resisting the ambitious yearnings, suggested to them by the spectacle of the world which surrounds them,—a world now at length transparent to all, a world
- 47. of which the stir, the noise, the accidents, the adventures, penetrate with rapidity even to the workshops of our cities and the remotest recesses of our villages. What influence shall protect the masses of the people from the irritating and demoralizing effect of such a sight, unless it be the influence of religious principles, the moral discipline which religion maintains, and the moral serenity which religion diffuses over the rudest existences and the lives subjected to the greatest privations? And it is precisely religious belief and religious discipline, Christian faith and Christian law, which are now being attacked and undermined, and this far more in the obscurer classes, than in the brilliant regions of society! These attacks are of a general although of diverse nature, and of unequal violence; they occur in the bosom of Roman Catholicism, of Protestantism, and of scientific philosophy; some are direct, open, impetuous; others indirect and full of reserves, and of a tenderness sometimes affected, sometimes sincere. Christianity counts amongst its enemies fanatics who persecute it in the name of reason and of liberty, as well as adversaries who criticise it with moderation and prudence; the latter admit its practical deservings, are distressed by the wounds which they inflict, and, in the very act of dealing their blows, seek to lessen their force. This diversity of attack is a proof of the trouble, of the incertitude, and of the incoherence which reign in men's opinions, both upon religious questions and upon questions which are only simply political and social; many they are who would be inclined to save such or such a portion of the edifice which they are battering and seeking to destroy. But the upshot is, that all these blows are telling upon the same point, and are concurring to produce the same effect; it is the Christian Religion which receives them all; it is the right and the empire of Christ which, in the world learned and unlearned, is subjected to doubt and exposed to peril. I have touched upon all the great questions which are agitating the human mind and human societies: questions of public right, questions of political organization, questions of social institutions,
- 48. questions of religious belief. Everywhere I encounter two facts, facts everywhere the same: a great complication and a great incertitude in man's opinions and in his efforts. Nothing is simple, no one decided. Problems of every kind—doubts of every kind weigh upon the thoughts of men, and oppress their wills; their ambitious aspirings are varied, immense, but everywhere they hesitate. They may be likened to travellers already exhausted with fatigue, yet feebly driving to feel their way through a labyrinth. Are we then to infer that we are living in an era of decay and impotence? that we have nothing ourselves to do, nothing to hope for, in this situation so complicated and so obscure? that we have only to wait until our lot is decided by that sovereign power called by some Providence, by others Fate? I am far from thinking so. Of the men distinguished by singleness of views and strength of convictions whom I have known, I consider the Marshal Gouvion Saint-Cyr in these respects the most remarkable. He was one day detailing his reasons for disapproving of the system of a royal or imperial guard, or of privileged corps, in an army: "Few," said he, "are really brave: the best thing to be done is to disseminate them in the ranks, where each singly, by his presence and example, will make eight or ten more brave men around him." I am no judge as to the value of the Marshal's maxim in a military sense; I do not believe it to be invariably true, or always applicable in the political sense; there are epochs at which, in order to further the progress of which a nation stands in need, to withdraw it from its embarrassments or to rouse it from its apathy, the most urgent thing to be done, and the plan the most efficacious, is to form in its bosom picked bodies of men (the number is immaterial), and then to incorporate with them others possessing distinguished qualities, and animated by the same spirit, decided in their opinions, and resolute in their action, single of purpose, and full of confidence: these would soon attract to themselves as associates
- 49. many others who would never, without such impulse, begin to move in the same path. We are, I believe, at an era which calls for such a mode of influencing society, and which authorises us to expect success if we adopt it. I can never be accused of ignoring or extenuating the evil which torments us upon all the points which I have just indicated, the rights of nations, the civil organization of society and its economy, moral and religious belief. In all these directions an evil wind is blowing, an evil current is hurrying away a part of French society, and it is my constant design so to arouse the moral sense of the people, and its good sense, as to make them attentive to the existence of the ill, and solicitous for its removal. But at the side of this fact, so deplorable and so full of peril, a fact of contrary and salutary nature is occurring and developing itself: a good wind there also is which is blowing, a good current which is impelling us forwards;—at the same time that violent and revolutionary theories are being diffused, the principles of legal order, and of liberties, serving mutually to control and check one another, are proclaimed and maintained; the maxims and the sentiments of the spirit of peace are heard at least as loudly pronounced, as the souvenirs and the traditions of the spirit of adventure and conquest; the sound principles of political economy have defenders no less zealous than the presumptuous and dreamy theories of Socialism; Spiritualism raises its voice high at the side of Materialism; Christianity is advancing at the same time as Incredulity, and with a progress also distinguished by its scientific method and its practical applications. Following respectively their different objects, there are on both sides groups of men of strong convictions, activity, and influence, who hope for and pursue the triumph of their several causes. Like the ardent huntsman of Bürgers ballad, France is solicited by two Genii, ever at her side, ever present, urgent, contrary. Since the commencement of the nineteenth century, our history is made up of this great struggle and of its vicissitudes, of the series of victories gained and defeats sustained by these two forces, which are disputing the future of our country.
- 50. They find a field of action in a people of quick, various, and keen feelings, prone to generous impulses, full of human sympathies and mobility, at this moment chilled and intimidated by the checks imposed upon their ambitious yearnings, by the disappointments which have befallen their hopes, and so brought back by actual experience to confine their aspirations within the modest limits of good sense; more occupied with the perils of their situation than with the rights of thought, but always remarkable for intelligence and sagacity; friendly to liberty even when they dread its abuse, and to order although they only defend it at the last extremity; more touched by virtue than shocked by vice; honest in their instincts and moral judgments in spite of the weakness of their moral belief and their complacent indulgence of men whom they do not esteem; and always ready, in spite of their doubts and their alarms, to recur to the noble desires which they have the air of no longer entertaining. We have in all this evidently matter to encourage the good genius of France. The life of nations is neither easier nor less mixed with good and evil, with successes and reverses, than the life of individuals; but assuredly, in spite of what is wanting to it, and in spite of its sorrows, the actual state of our country, as well as its long history, open a wide field to the efforts and the hopes of the men of elevated, resolute, and honest minds, who are occupying themselves in earnest with its destiny. What, in order to attain their object, can be, ought to be, the conduct of the men engaged in this patriotic design, men who have it at heart to second the good current and to stem the evil current, which have both set in amongst us? Upon what conditions and by what means can we hope to pass through the sieve of good sense and of moral sense the confused ideas which plague us, and to find an issue for the public out of the doubts and hesitation which are a source of languor and enervation to the soul?
- 51. Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to specialized publications, self-development books, and children's literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system, we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading. Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and personal growth! ebookfinal.com