Meta-something is something about somethink. For instance, a metalanguage is a language that allows us to define languages (their syntax and sometimes their semantics). Metadata are data that describe the structure and other properties of data (generally user data). An interesting aspect of meta-something is that it should describe itself: since meta-something describes any kind of something, and meta-something being something, we should be able to use meta-something to describe meta-something. It seems to be pure brain teasing but this observation has practical consequences. For instance, the table of tables (generically named SYS_TABLE) in the catalog of any relational database includes a row that describes this table itself.
[P10-05] Anthony Cleve, Anne-France Brogneaux, Jean-Luc Hainaut. A Conceptual Approach to Database Applications Evolution, in Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER'2010), Lecture Notes in Computer Science No 6412, pages 132 - 145, Springer-Verlag, 2010. [description]
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[P06-10] Jean-Luc Hainaut. The Transformational Approach to Database Engineering, in Generative and Transformational Techniques in Software Engineering, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 4143, pages 95-143, Springer, 2006. [description]
[PHD00] Vincent Englebert. A smart meta-CASE: towards an integrated solution, PhD Thesis, University of Namur, 2000 [Description and full text]
[P99-06] Vincent Englebert and Jean-Luc Hainaut. DB-MAIN: A Next Generation Meta-CASE, Information Systems Journal, Special issue on meta-modelling and methodology engineering, 24(2): Pergamon, 1999. [description] [full text]
[P99-03] Vincent Englebert and Jean-Luc Hainaut. GRASYLA: Modelling CASE tool GUIs in Meta-CASEs, in Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Computer-Aided Design of User Interface (CADUI’99), pages 217-230, Kluwer, 1999. [description] [full text]
[P89-01] Jean-Luc Hainaut. A Generic Entity-Relationship Model, in Proceedings of the IFIP WG 8.1 Conference on Information System Concepts: an in-depth analysis, pages 109-138, North-Holland, 1989. [description] [full text]