OCL25 — Special Types violate UML Generalization Semantics

Special Types violate UML Generalization Semantics The definition of OclAny as a general of all classes in the UML model and of OclVoid and OclInvalid as specializations of all classes in the UML model are in violation of the semantics of generalization. Classifiers in the UML may only specialize other classifiers of the same or a conformant metaclass. From the description of Classifier in the UML: [3] A classifier may only specialize classifiers of a valid type. self.parents()->forAll(c | self.maySpecializeType(c)) [8] The query maySpecializeType() determines whether this classifier may have a generalization relationship to classifiers of the specified type. By default a classifier may specialize classifiers of the same or a more general type. It is intended to be redefined by classifiers that have different specialization constraints. Thus, it is not valid for OclAny (an instance of the AnyType metaclass) to be the general of any other class. Likewise, OclVoid and OclInvalid may not specialize any other class at all. This could be corrected in OclVoid and OclInvalid by redefining the maySpecializeType() query. For OclAny, the solution is not so straight-forward, as I don't see that OCL can redefine maySpecializeType() on behalf of the UML metaclasses; according to Section 7.4.4, it is not permitted to attempt to define an additional operation that clashes with an intrinsic operation of the context classifier.