MDA Distilled: Principles of Model-Driven Architecture

Why Marks?

Consider the PIM, modeled without reference to distributed objects and remote accessibility, that we introduced in the previous chapter (see An Informal Example in Chapter 5). A default mapping rule that transforms all object-related source model elements into remotely accessible objects in the target model, just in case there's a need to access them remotely at some time, could yield an implementation that is unacceptably slow. It would instead be more efficient to make some accesses local and others remote.

Of course, there has to be some mechanism that indicates whether to apply the mapping rule that generates a remote access or the mapping rule that generates a local access. The mechanism we use is a mark. Like mapping functions, ...