LOGIN | REGISTER NOW | SUBSCRIBE
 
 
News on Monday
more>>
SharePoint Tech Report
more>>


   

 
 
Download Current Issue
ISSUE 3/1/2010 PDF

Need Back Issues?
DOWNLOAD HERE

Receive the print Edition?


 
blogs tab
About CSS processing
Two sites that lead to a startling CSS conclusion.
03/10/2010 02:29 AM EST

Open source on Windows
Open source developers are targeting Windows with great frequency, says Microsoft.
03/09/2010 01:41 PM EST

On Windows Phone 7 Development
Windows Phone 7 is still full of questions, but things look promising so far!
03/05/2010 12:57 AM EST

 

Events calendar tab
QCon London
3/8/2010 to 3/12/2010
London
QCon

Game Developers Conf.
3/9/2010 to 3/13/2010
San Francisco
Think Services

SHARE
3/14/2010 to 3/18/2010
Seattle, Wa.
SHARE

Cloud Connect
3/15/2010 to 3/18/2010
Santa Clara, Calif.
TechWeb

Microsoft MIX10
3/15/2010 to 3/17/2010
Las Vegas
Microsoft


 
print Printable version 
Most Read Latest News Blog Resources
Appcelerator dev environment targets Android, iPhone
This unified development environment compiles JavaScript into Objective-C or Java, and wil...

Even with its success, .NET causes some consternation
Despite its popularity, the developer community believes that .NET isn't being fully serve...

Eclipse creates new sub-projects for Mylyn
The sub-projects are designed to help organizations adopt agile ALM, and they will also br...

Digg!  Digg
Reddit  Reddit
Slashdot  Slashdot
Share on facebook  Facebook
Share on Twitter  Twitter

UML: Too Big, Too Small, Just Right?


Experts weigh in on what's ahead for the Unified Modeling Language

By SD Times News Team
August 15, 2004 — 
UML 2.0 is too fat. Modeling experts don't necessarily agree with the remark made by one of UML's own backers. But coupled with Microsoft Corp.'s recent plan to provide modeling tools, the provocative comment has sparked a discussion that's likely to benefit all parties involved: What is the best way to move the Unified Modeling Language forward, increasing its use among corporate development teams?

"The language has become obese," said Cris Kobryn, co-chair of the Analysis & Design Platform Task Force for Object Management Group Inc., the nonprofit industry consortium that oversees the UML specification. UML 2.0 includes 15 diagrams, but only six of them-Class, Sequence, Use Case, Activity, State Machine and Composite Structure-do the heavy lifting, said Kobryn, CEO of PivotPoint Technology Corp., a UML consulting firm, in Fallbrook, Calif. "We should have cut the fat."

"I can't say I agree with that," countered Bran Selic, a distinguished engineer at IBM Corp. and co-chair of OMG's Finalization Task Force for UML 2.0 Infrastructure. "The technology has evolved to meet a problem set. And the problems are becoming more and more complex." You can't solve them by simplifying things, he said. Selic claimed that UML 2.0 does address the size issue. "We were very aware of this problem in assembling UML 2.0. We took it apart and put it back together so it is modular." The specification includes sublanguages, including event-driven modeling and activity modeling, which are mutually independent, allowing UML users to work with a single sublanguage if they choose to, he said.

But according to Kobryn, using UML 2.0 tools for real-world development projects often results in confusion. "If you look over the diagram types, you will get d?j? vu attacks." For instance, the Component diagram and Composite Structure diagram are 90 percent similar, he said. "From a design standpoint, why include two diagrams that do the same thing? You should whack one of them."

Also, the sublanguages for Activity and Sequence are largely equivalent. Further complicating matters is a hybrid of the two, called Interaction Overview, he said. "The language is just too large, and a lot of people find that out by trial and error."

People Will TalkWhether that's true is still to be determined, said Jan Popkin, founder and CEO of Popkin Software, in New York, and a member of OMG's Finalization Task Force for UML 2.0. If Kobryn's comment-UML 2.0 is too fat-holds water, users will let vendors know, he said. "There are a lot of diagrams in UML 2.0. You could make the argument there could have been fewer."

But who is wrong and who is right is not the issue. "What they are really asking is: What is the future of UML?" said Popkin. That people are critiquing UML is a good thing, which will help advance the standard, added Popkin, who pointed out that Kobryn has a vested interest in bashing UML 2.0's bulk. "He was wearing a certain hat when he made that comment," said Popkin, and indeed, Kobryn's PivotPoint helps clients create modeling strategies around a subset of UML 2.0 diagrams.

Kobryn did not confirm whether his company plans to sell a product based on that subset, but he said: "PivotPoint is extremely interested in the rapid evolution of the modeling language."

Microsoft also is getting in on the conversation. The company announced plans in May to include modeling tools in Visual Studio 2005 Team System. It previously characterized its modeling strategy as "UML and more," noting that tools based solely on UML do not map precisely enough to the .NET Framework's Common Runtime Language.

Also at issue is that UML tools don't integrate closely enough with the life-cycle development process, said Microsoft's Jack Greenfield, an architect for Visual Studio Team System, who formerly worked for Rational Software Corp. prior to its purchase by IBM. Although many UML offerings generate code, and some support "round-trip engineering" (the ability to keep the code and underlying model synchronized), today modeling tools are used primarily for documentation, Greenfield said.

"UML diagrams are not closely enough associated with the way the software is built." The visual surface on which the architect works should function as a real tool, he added. "It should produce the things I have to deliver: the code, the configuration files and so forth."

At least two respondents to a survey conducted by BZ Research last month echoed that view. "Drawing boxes doesn't finish projects," said one. "Straight UML simply doesn't translate into the best possible code for the solution," said another.

The survey asked readers of SD Times whether UML is used within their development organizations and if so, how it is used. Fifty-eight percent said they use UML for some projects. But of those, only 15 percent said they use UML for the full life cycle of the project. (See related story above.) BZ Research is a subsidiary of BZ Media LLC, publisher of SD Times.

While Microsoft's modeling plans deviate from UML, Popkin does not see the company's approach as a departure from the industry standard. Microsoft is one of several players helping to fine-tune the standard. "Microsoft is tuning UML, which makes it more valuable," he said. "They are helping to move UML forward. If they had trashed UML, that would have been a whole other story."


Share this link: http://www.sdtimes.com/link/28101
 

Add comment


Name*
Email*  
Country     


  • Comment
  • Preview
Loading