Meta-level architectures : a conceptual tool or a banana skin ?

Overview & Synopsis

The present paper presents the different modelisation levels. The approach is discussed following the IRDS framework. The cornerstone of the IRDS framework is the concept of four data levels and the associated three "level pairs". Omitting this useful concept leads to misunderstanding and misemployment of the meta paradigm. Moreover, the unique concept provided by the "instance of' relationship should be nuanced. Three applications using a meta-level architecture are described and the pros and cons of the architecture are discussed.