Extending Modelica with High-Level Data Structures: Design and Implementation in OpenModelica

Abstract: Modelica is an equation-based object-oriented language (EOO). PELAB at Linköping University along with the OpenModelica development group, is developing a metamodeling extension, MetaModelica, to this language along with a compiler called the OpenModelica Compiler (OMC). The goal of this thesis was to analyze the compiler, extend it with union type support and then write a report about the extension with union types in particular and extension with high level data structures in general, to facilitate further development. The implementation made by this thesis was implemented with the goal of keeping the current structure intact and extending case-clauses where possible. The main parts of the extension is implemented by this thesis work but some parts concerning the pattern matching algorithms are still to be extended. The main goal of this is to bootstrap the OpenModelica Compiler, making it able to compile itself although this is still a goal for the future. With this thesis I also introduce some guidelines for implementing a new highlevel data structure into the compiler and which modules needs extension.