is UML a joke?
Quote:UML seems to be in the same realm as faith healing and e-dating.
[wow]
I prefer JUDE for uml diagrams. The shortcoming is that it doesn't produce c++ skeletons, only java.
UML is a modelling tool that lets you layout the design for your system in a supposedly industry standard way. It's a best practice type thing. Very large and very robust but supreme overkill for anything but the most complicated systems imho.
I find it works best with a large development team who has to work on a system that will be around for a long time and that will require maintenance and updates.
The reason I say that is that UML modelling allows you to bukld almost every aspect of the system on paper. Once the dev shop is used to using it, the specs can be given to developers. As things change the specs can be updated and everyone can keep track of the state of the system without looking at 651611651684626843213016579841605648919849875348.3 lines of code.
So in summary. Good for big, long lasting projects. Overkill for everything else. Again imho.
Make sense?
I find it works best with a large development team who has to work on a system that will be around for a long time and that will require maintenance and updates.
The reason I say that is that UML modelling allows you to bukld almost every aspect of the system on paper. Once the dev shop is used to using it, the specs can be given to developers. As things change the specs can be updated and everyone can keep track of the state of the system without looking at 651611651684626843213016579841605648919849875348.3 lines of code.
So in summary. Good for big, long lasting projects. Overkill for everything else. Again imho.
Make sense?
UML is not a joke. Jokes are funny.
I've personally never used UML, except once in a Software Engineering course. I think it's probably a great tool if you're designing a massive project, but from my brief exposure to it, its primary purpose is to enable middle management to make pretty diagrams that mean nothing, to earn kudos in meetings. Hopefully one day I'll find out what it's like to use in a non-uni-course context.
The name strikes me as silly, too. UML is a modelling language the way that Photoshop is a graphics API.
I've personally never used UML, except once in a Software Engineering course. I think it's probably a great tool if you're designing a massive project, but from my brief exposure to it, its primary purpose is to enable middle management to make pretty diagrams that mean nothing, to earn kudos in meetings. Hopefully one day I'll find out what it's like to use in a non-uni-course context.
The name strikes me as silly, too. UML is a modelling language the way that Photoshop is a graphics API.
UML can also be used to help a technically minded person explain the basic concepts and flows of an application to a not-so-techinically minded person (ie, management). On my previous contract at Microsoft, UML diagrams were common in functional specs written by project managers so that they could better explain the technical details from a top-down approach. It also helped to explain the same details to new members of the team, technically minded or not.
I see someone has already quoted you on the rating part of your post... So let me quote you on the rest of it...
"Id be willing to bet you dont know anything about it, judging from your post and quick jump to conclusions."
You seemed to know nothing about UML, and yet you jumped to conclusions about it, and insulted people who tried to answer.
UML is a tool to make it easier to communicate the program design and structure to others, either to other programmers on the team, or to non-technical people who need to know what's going on. It's not a scripting/programming/markup language, it's just a standard saying what each part of a program should look like on a diagram. And having a standard for that can be very useful if you're going to hire a new programmer who has no clue how your code works. If he's learned UML, and you used UML to document your design, then you can hand him a simple diagram, and he'll know what's going on in the code. (In theory)
"Id be willing to bet you dont know anything about it, judging from your post and quick jump to conclusions."
You seemed to know nothing about UML, and yet you jumped to conclusions about it, and insulted people who tried to answer.
UML is a tool to make it easier to communicate the program design and structure to others, either to other programmers on the team, or to non-technical people who need to know what's going on. It's not a scripting/programming/markup language, it's just a standard saying what each part of a program should look like on a diagram. And having a standard for that can be very useful if you're going to hire a new programmer who has no clue how your code works. If he's learned UML, and you used UML to document your design, then you can hand him a simple diagram, and he'll know what's going on in the code. (In theory)
Please keep this civil. I won't tollerate personal attacks on the forum, we're here to learn and help each other not to argue.
As for UML, it's something I'm currently looking into. Looks quite powerful as a modelling tool but it won't solve all of your problems. Like any tool, it's how you apply it that counts. A useful UML tool is ProxyDesigner, which is free but requires a registration code (obtained free from the site).
As for UML, it's something I'm currently looking into. Looks quite powerful as a modelling tool but it won't solve all of your problems. Like any tool, it's how you apply it that counts. A useful UML tool is ProxyDesigner, which is free but requires a registration code (obtained free from the site).
I have three sentences? Interesting. Oops just used up 3. :-P
I'll give it a go (albeit they are long sentences) - but by the sounds of it you aren't really interested anyway...
Sentence 1:
UML consists of several types of diagrams for mapping out a truly object oriented system, each with a different purpose - including (but not exclusively) Use Case, State and Class.
Sentence 2:
A Use Case diagram details the interactions using stick men and bubbles so that anyone (even management and end-users) can understand what’s going on, and is useful for requirements gathering and creating contracts and most importantly identifying and assigning responsibilities to classes.
Sentence 3:
A Class diagram shows all the classes functions, members (including their visibility) and their cardinality - these can be created in parallel with the state diagrams to show how actions effect an objects life time within a system.
... well that's the gist of it. There are tons of tools out there that can reverse engineer some of the diagrams. Ready-rolled solutions and good practices can be found expressed via UML in the form of "Design Patterns".
Still... it's not like many developers actually like to document, often you are lucky if they even inline comment it seems... it's all about discipline.
EDIT: Why is this in WebDev anyway?
I'll give it a go (albeit they are long sentences) - but by the sounds of it you aren't really interested anyway...
Sentence 1:
UML consists of several types of diagrams for mapping out a truly object oriented system, each with a different purpose - including (but not exclusively) Use Case, State and Class.
Sentence 2:
A Use Case diagram details the interactions using stick men and bubbles so that anyone (even management and end-users) can understand what’s going on, and is useful for requirements gathering and creating contracts and most importantly identifying and assigning responsibilities to classes.
Sentence 3:
A Class diagram shows all the classes functions, members (including their visibility) and their cardinality - these can be created in parallel with the state diagrams to show how actions effect an objects life time within a system.
... well that's the gist of it. There are tons of tools out there that can reverse engineer some of the diagrams. Ready-rolled solutions and good practices can be found expressed via UML in the form of "Design Patterns".
Still... it's not like many developers actually like to document, often you are lucky if they even inline comment it seems... it's all about discipline.
EDIT: Why is this in WebDev anyway?
Not trying to be rude, but you should take a look at your rating, nosajghoul ;)
[Edited by - Magmai Kai Holmlor on October 30, 2004 6:23:49 PM]
[Edited by - Magmai Kai Holmlor on October 30, 2004 6:23:49 PM]
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