YAKINDU Statechart Tools
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software development |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Founder | YAKINDU team at itemis AG |
| Headquarters | Lünen , Germany |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Software for specification and development of reactive, event-driven systems using finite-state machines |
| Owner | itemis AG |
| Website | www |
YAKINDU Statechart Tools (YAKINDU SCT) is a comprehensive software package created by the YAKINDU team at itemis AG designed for the specification and development of reactive, event-driven systems through the use of finite-state machines. It provides functionalities such as graphical editing of statecharts, validation processes, simulation capabilities, and source code generation compatible with various programming languages and platforms. Available in both standard and professional versions, YAKINDU SCT also offers free licenses for academic and non-commercial purposes.
This solution caters to a broad spectrum of users from industrial sectors and academia, facilitating the design of intricate systems in fields including automotive and healthcare. Its compatibility with multiple operating systems—Windows, Linux, and macOS—along with its integration features, makes it adaptable to diverse development settings. The product is distributed under a proprietary license that incorporates components licensed under the Eclipse Public License, reflecting a mixed open-source approach.
Concepts
The foundation of YAKINDU Statechart Tools lies in the statecharts concept introduced by David Harel in 1984. This concept was subsequently incorporated into the UML. The software supports modeling various types of finite-state machines, including fundamental theoretical frameworks such as Mealy machines and Moore machines.
Functionality
YAKINDU Statechart Tools provides several essential features:
- Integration of textual descriptions with graphical modeling
- Validation of state machines on both syntactic and semantic levels
- Simulation enabling execution of statechart models
- Code generators producing output for Java, C, and C++, alongside beta-stage generators for Python, Swift, and TypeScript to support embedding into custom software
- SCTUnit testing framework
- SCov tool for coverage analysis
Extensibility
The tool offers open APIs that allow extensive customization options. Users can enhance code generation capabilities and create specialized statechart dialects via domain-specific statecharts, which can be reused as modular language components tailored to particular business requirements.
History
YAKINDU Statechart Tools was initially released in 2008 as part of the MDA for Embedded research initiative aimed at model-based development for embedded systems within the Eclipse environment. Since 2010, development has been led mainly by the YAKINDU team at itemis AG located in Lünen, Germany. Version 2.0 was launched alongside Eclipse Juno’s release. Version 2.9 added support for Eclipse 4.5 (Mars) and 4.6 (Neon), introducing command-line code generation functionality suited for continuous integration processes.
Introduction of professional edition
In December 2016, itemis introduced a professional edition featuring advanced capabilities available under a commercial license.
Change of licensing model
With the rollout of version 3.0 for both the standard edition in July and the professional edition in August 2017, itemis transitioned from an open-source framework to a proprietary licensing scheme. The standard edition remains free for non-commercial applications, while students and educators receive complimentary access to the professional edition.
The final open-source version, 2.9.3, continues to be accessible through YAKINDU Statechart Tools’ GitHub repository.
Award
- Germany – Land of Ideas 2008: Honored for pioneering model-driven generative software solutions aimed at embedded system applications
Literature and Sources
- Mülder, Andreas; Nyßen, Alexander. "TMF meets GMF," featured in Eclipse Magazin, Issue 3, 2011, pages 74–78.
- Mülder, Andreas; Unger, Andreas. "Yakindu ist auch eine Stadt," published in Eclipse Magazin, Issue 3, 2012.
- Nyßen, Alexander. "TMF meets GMF – Integrating Graphical and Textual Modeling," presented at EclipseCon Europe 2011.
- Nyßen, Alexander; Terfloth, Axel. "YAKINDU SCT – Domain-Specific Statecharts," delivered at EclipseCon 2012.
- Terfloth, Axel. "Model-Driven Development with the Yakindu Workbench," BAIKEM Embedded Systems Network Meeting, 2011.