We seem to agree with Microsoft!

Jack Greenfield blogs about UML and Model Driven Development (MDD), making the comment that "it is being promoted by a standards organization (i.e., the Object Management Group), not only as A medium, but as THE (official, sanctioned, approved, acceptable and appropriate) medium."

Which is a concern to me, since OMG seems desparate to capitalise on the UML brand, without much concern for the obvious unsuitability of UML (even the all-singing, all-dancing UML-2) for modelling in certain domains. This is the main point of Jack's post

Obviously we (DSTC and other "EDOCers") believe that for application-server based MDD, the most appropriate language for the job is "EDOC", or more specifically, the Enterprise Collaboration Architecture (ECA) part of the EDOC suite of specs. It was designed from the ground up by abstracting the concepts evident in most popular kinds of middleware of the early 2000s (most of which are still the most common platforms now - i.e. J2EE, MOM and workflow, and their now-almost-stable Web Services equivalents). For other traget platforms we wear of MOF hat, and say make your own language. We seem to agree with (gasp) Microsoft on this one.

Perhaps its time is yet to come (and the evidence is that despite a lack of coordinated marketing, the ECA is popping up in more and more places). So perhaps OMG will recognise this brand, and allow it some small airtime next to it's big brother, UML.

I am a deposed dictator

Following Anna's posting of yet another quiz (famous leader), I had to have a go, and got this:

IBM releases it's EMF Transformation language/engine

It's called Model Transformation Framework and in form it looks a lot like the QVT Partners MOF QVT submission (relations between things with multiplicities on the related model types). It support check and enforce, and has a bidirectional incremental execution paradigm. It also supports the ability to plug in implementations of arbitrary java that supports the engine, and this is the mechanism they use to support export of textual formats from a transformation.

At first glance all the boxes seem to be ticked. However, the examples provided are all very simple one-to-one transformations. It's not clear how they will support bi-directional transformations without some sort of default value assignments of the form that Compuware (and now the QVT Core) support. Also, it seems that objects always depend on other objects, which makes it difficult to do things like using unique name or integer values as the key to creating new objects. Once again, this may also only be a limitation of examples, not the language itself.

An old idea - but someone actually did it

[via Gizmodo]

We've all had this idea, but someone's actually gone and printed the cards. I for one was threatening to make a pamphlet about relative conversational volumes to hand to loud Americans in Venice earlier this year (and if I'd had a computer and printer handy I probably would've done it).

Get Your Evolve Off!

Get Your Evolve On!

Is this the one?

The Server Side informs me of yet another UML tool release...Poseidon 3.0. But is this the one that will finally be stable, usable, and linux-friendly. The "community edition" (free one) has a lot less features crippled now, so maybe I'll download it and give it a go. I've given up on Argo, MagicDraw, Rose & others. Right now I still use xfig or powerpoint for most of my UML modelling....

Lead Sister - funnier than even I had thought

I went to my friends Pauline & Paul (Eileen Surepuss & Mr Hanky)'s show Lead Sister at the Powerhouse on Wed, and had a ball. Eileen & Mr Hanky are rehearsing a show about Karen Carpenter at the Blue Knob RSL, and various Carpenters songs illustrate the plight of a penniless cabaret couple trying to do the show of their lives.... until the bushfires roll into town.

The highlight of the show for me was the extension of "Call Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" (not my fave Carpenters number), when Eileen has to retire from the number with a groin strain after attempting the splits. Mr Hanky continues into an Epic medley of evey famous Sci-fi theme of the last 30 years...

Bonus: It's cabaret layout, so you can get a table if you get there early, and there's a bar operating inside the Visy Theatre. Sadly it closes on Saturday... so cancel your other commitments, and get onto the powerhouse web booking page and go!