Peter Harman
deltatheta UK Ltd., UK
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3384/ecp11063650Published in: Proceedings of the 8th International Modelica Conference; March 20th-22nd; Technical Univeristy; Dresden; Germany
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 63:72, p. 650-656
Published: 2011-06-30
ISBN: 978-91-7393-096-3
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
This contribution introduces Converge; a specialized Version Control System client application designed purely for Modelica. Conventional VCS clients and diff tools cannot inform the user what the effect of a single edit has on the model as a whole. Converge compares selected revisions of a model; loading the Modelica code directly from the VCS repository. This paper presents examples of Modelica code where an edit that appears significant in a conventional diff tool can be shown as not so; and an edit that appears insignificant in a conventional diff tool actually has significant changes to the resulting model.
Successfully comparing two revisions of a model requires resolving the types of components; including handling inheritance; imports and redeclarations. It requires handling of equations and component values; and flattening of the model structure.
Converge includes a complete Modelica implementation; and presents the VCS repository to the user with a number of views; including Packages; Inheritance; Dependencies; Annotations; and Components views; and Instance and Equations views that compare the instantiated model. Changes; and whether they affect the model results; are highlighted to the user. This will allow users to understand the development of models over time and to solve problems caused by changes in dependent Modelica libraries.
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