[AM] What MDA should be - was ANN: Are You Ready For MDA?

MDA will work when the code IS the model and the model IS the code. That
would require OO languages like Java and C# to incorporate UML-specific
concepts like association end and multiplicity, and for UML to incorporate
code-specific concepts like statements, branches and loops (which it kind of
does, but not faithfully enough to represent executable code accurately).
Then I could code models or draw them (or both), and the diagrams and the
code would simply be different representations of exactly the same thing. 

The test would be whether one could persist a UML model as code, and then -
without storing any information outside of the code - recreate the model
faithfully (except for the diagrams, of course). And, vice versa. One should
be able to save your code as UML, and then recreate that code entirely from
a UML model. 

The UML model view should be abstracted - ie, not chock full of
implementation-specific artefacts like Hashtables that implement qualified
associations. It should be possible to specify in the code what the
intention/abstraction is so that analysis concepts are retained and the
logic behind an implementation is obvious and portable.

One should also be able to transform code into multiple "UML-compliant"
implementation languages with no loss of information.

And, to be truly useful, modeling and coding would need to happen at the
same time, in the same development tool. It's a bit like HTML editors - they
let you flick between a design view and a code view, and a good tool will
not lose information (or create extra information) when you switch views. It
should happen instantaneously and seamlessly.

Ideally, one should also be able to step through code in "UML mode", too,
and see where you are in the model at any specific point during execution -
as well as explore system state using object diagrams and the call stack
using sequence diagrams.

I will not be throwing my whiteboard away just yet...

Jason Gorman
http://www.objectmonkey.com
	
		
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Ambler [mailto:[email protected]] 
> Sent: 11 March 2004 16:31
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [AM] ANN: Are You Ready For MDA?
> 
> At 11:01 AM 3/11/2004, you wrote:
> >In a message dated 3/10/2004 3:53:59 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
> >[email protected] writes:
> >The big tool vendors are all pursuing the "soup to nuts" MDA 
> model. I 
> >think that there is a market opportunity for less ambitious tools -- 
> >and that this would both allow smaller tool vendors to enter 
> the market 
> >and also allow organisations interested in MDA to experiment 
> with, and 
> >get value from, model driven approaches without committing 
> themselves 
> >to the hilt, in terms of both money and risk, from the outset.
> >
> >Like many in this forum, I don't particularly subscribe to 
> the OMG MDA 
> >approach, but I do find models indispensable in my development work 
> >(although I often use the term model interchangeably with the word 
> >template, and pardon my gaucherie, s'il vous plait).
> 
> Then please speak up in other forums whenever you get the 
> chance.  My fear is that too many developers will relate 
> modeling with the MDA, then when the MDA fails they'll assume 
> that modeling is also a failure.  We need to let people know 
> that there is a clear and viable alternative.
> 
> For example, a couple of days ago I posted a CFP for an 
> academic MDD conference.  These people seem to be wrapped 
> around the MDA vision, and they didn't even seem to know 
> about Agile Modeling.  What a shame.
> - Scott 
> 
> For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home 
> Page at www.agilemodeling.com
> 
> 

For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page at www.agilemodeling.com
--^----------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent to: [email protected]

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrKDA.bWnbtk.Z2NtYS1h
Or send an email to: [email protected]

For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit:
http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER
--^----------------------------------------------------------------