RE: [stellation-res] UML modelling, papers, and documentation

["Jonathan Gossage" <jgossage@xxxxxxxx>]

> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: stellation-res-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >[mailto:stellation-res-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Mark C.
> >Chu-Carroll
> >Sent: January 1, 2003 8:07 AM
> >To: Stellation-res
> >Subject: [stellation-res] UML modelling, papers, and documentation
> >
> >
> >
> >I've been meaning to mention something about this on the mailing list
> >for a while, but with all of the other stuff going on, I just haven't
> >had the time. Please read all the way through; even if you aren't
> >interested in the paper I'm discussing at the beginning, there's
> >important stuff at the end.
> >
> >In December, Jim, Dave and I started trying to put together a paper
> >describing the architecture of Stellation, with a particular focus on
> >extension mechanisms. We think that a good document on that is important
> >to the development of the system, and as people in Research, getting
> >publications is important: writing the needed document as a publishable
> >paper kills two birds with one stone.
> >
> >Anyone who is interested in joining in on the writing is welcome to
> >sign up as a co-author.

I would be interested in contributing to the paper. Do you have an outline
yet and how to you propose to split the work among the contributors? Also
what tools will you be using to publish this document?

> >
> >One of the things that we started doing for it was working on UML models
> >of Stellation. I'm not the worlds biggest UML fan, but there is a lot of
> >value in having a viewable model of the system, and UML is the standard
> >way of doing it, so it's something that we're pretty much stuck with.
> >(I'd rather be doing it in something like Dan Jackson's Alloy tool, but
> >I know that's not going to fly :-).
> >
> >Anyway: we started off doing some UML diagrams in Rational's XDE, just
> >because it's what we had available. XDE is less than ideal for our
> >purposes, both because it's not free, which means that non-IBM folks
> >would need to pay large sums of money to be able to update the models
> >for the parts of the system they work on; and even ignoring that, it
> >has some technical deficiencies. I'm sure the technical deficiencies
> >will be addressed before long, but the $$$ issue isn't one that we can
> >do much about.
> >
> >So I've been looking at what's available in the free-software world. It
> >really comes down to two possibilities: ArgoUML, and Umbrello. I'd like
> >to have us decide on one of the two, and then we'll start seriously
> >doing some models of the system.
> >
> >Here's my assessment of the two:
> >- Capabilities: the two seem roughly equivalent in capability. They both
> >  provide lots of facilities that we won't use, but as far as the base
> >  diagramming and modelling, they're pretty equivalent. Argo does a lot
> >  of automatic critiqueing of the model, which Umbrello doesn't, but I
> >  find that its critiques aren't particularly useful.  So while Argo is
> >  slightly more powerful, I think that when it comes to the stuff that
> >  we'll actually really use, they're pretty much equivalent.
> >
> >- Performance: Umbrello is *dramatically* faster than Argo. Umbrello
> >  is very, very quick. Argo is a fairly typical Swing app: it's close
> >  to unusable at startup; once the JIT has had a chance to optimize for
> >  a while, it speeds up somewhat, but it's still often painfully slow.
> >
> >- Usability: Umbrello is much easier to use. Mostly that's due to
> >  speed, but for certain things like changing labels, it's often
> >  more awkward in Argo. Umbrello has a typical KDE UI, which means
> >  that it's nice and smooth and consistent. But overall, both are quite
> >  usable tools - Argo put a lot of time and energy into usability.
> >
> >- Portability: Umbrello only runs under KDE, so it doesn't work under
> >  windows. Argo is pure Java, and runs everywhere. Argo can even be
> >  launched using Java webstart.
> >
> >All in all, I would prefer to use Umbrello. The speed difference is
> >absolutely astounding on my machine, and I expect some of our models to
> >get quite large and complex, so the speed could be a very big deal. But
> >the Unix-only restriction is also a very big deal.
> >
> >What do folks think about which modelling tool to use? Do the
> >windows people out there have convenient enough access to some kind of
> >linux box to make it possible for them to use Umbrello? Or should we
> >stick to the pure Java system?
> >
> >	-Mark
> >
I have Visio installed which gives me a UML implementation on Windows, But
since there, as yet, does not appear to be a standardized data interchange
format for UML I would not be able to share updatable models.

I have a Linux box but it gives me all kinds of trouble, mainly because of
my complete ignorance of Unix system administration. If Umbrello is easy to
install I could live with that as a solution. I would favour Umbrello over
ArgoUML simply because UML modelling tols tend to be such pigs that anything
that helps deliver reasonable performance is vital to any semblance of
usability.

Regards

Jonathan

Personal Email
jgossage@xxxxxxxx

Business Email
jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx