EmPowerTec UML and modeling blog

Hello,

as I have promised I will translate and summarize some of the articles from the German Computerzeitung issue 44 which has a focal point on software modeling.

The first article cites 3 persons:

• Harald Böttcher from Optaros (consultant)
• Ralph Schoon from IBM Rational (tool vendor)
• Wolfgang Neuhaus from Itemis (consultant)

Harald states that Optaros has completed many UML consulting projects for customers but that most of these projects had disappointing results. Main reason is that the clients domain specialists are not willing to use sophisticated and rigid tools to model their business processes.

Ralph disagrees and thinks that UML based projects can be successful but that often an adaption of the UML to the specific domain is necessary. He also thinks that many domain specialists want to express their analysis without the constraints of a rigid tool and process (e.g. in a program like Visio or even in Microsoft Word) – at the cost of precision and ambiguousness.

Wolfgang thinks that modeling languages should better not be based on UML to achieve best productivity. The main focus should not be on the tools but on creating a common vocabulary, views on the domain and an appropriate modeling language.

My opinion:
The article seems to be aimed on modeling domain specific aspects (analysis model) – in particular business processes – of a software system. In this case it is mandatory to enable the domain specialists to create, maintain or at least understand the model. But modeling is also used to describe the technical aspects of a software model (implementation model) and such a model is usually only used by software engineers who are (should be ) more used to formal methods.
As far as DSLs are concerned I think that modern UML tools offer rich capabilities for creating very specific modeling languages by using UML profiles, owner drawn model elements on diagram and extension mechanisms. These languages are based on a well defined meta model, the tools are mature now and the models are – to a certain degree – interchangeable.

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: modeling, DSL, domain specific languages

Hello,

the German information technology magazine Computerzeitung had a focal point on software modeling in its issue 44 of 2007.

Some of the statements and views are quite interesting and I’d like to translate and summarize the articles for your convenience.

Here is the list of articles (the articles are all in German):

• Being close to the domain is important
• The downturn in modeling is over
• Abstraction and precision enable better processes
• The gap between information technology and domain experts closes
• Modeling can also be done textual
• UML connects continents
• Code comes from the production line
• Self made modeling languages
• Software models are the raw material for program tests
• Model based testing requires a unified approach

I’ll write separate posts about each article in the next weeks. If some of the titles sound more interesting to you please leave a comment and I’ll write about them first.

Best regards,
Andreas

Technorati Tags: modeling, modeling trends