Suitability of active rules for model transformation

Model transformation promises faster and higher-quality system development processes by automating certain development steps. There are numerous proposals such as QVT and triple graph grammars that are applied in practical design environments. To our surprise, active rule systems have not yet been considered as a platform to execute model transformations. We investigate in this paper the suitability of active rule systems via a case study. An empirical analysis of the complexity is provided as well. It turns out that active rules support the basic functional requirements but some extensions to their execution engine and join order optimization would be needed.