[Uml-devel] Thoughts on Umbrello 1.3

[Andrew Sutton]

> Let's see. I haven't seen a release plan, but KDE 3.3 or 4.0 will need
> another year to be released. UML2 is scheduled, I think, for this summer.
> This means we have enough time to go for UML2. What are your concerns
> against UML 2? I think it is really valuable to have things like MDA.

for those copied on this that don't know what mda (model driven architecture) 
is, here's a brief description:

the omg (people that make uml) want to build all software using uml models. 
the idea is that you build a platfrom independant model (classes, behaviors, 
etc) and then transform that to a platform specific model (psm) based on 
specific rules for the mapping. for example, you can build a pim of your 
software in uml and then use the transformations to create models specific 
to... i don't know Java, MS .Net, Mono, C++ on Linux with Debian, C++ no 
Windows, Solaris, Mac... whatever the the specifics of the platform are...

why do i propose waiting on uml2? a couple reasons
	a) it's not done yet. we need to wait for the xmi to mof mapping before you 
can really start implementing it. this is the major reason.
	b) i've spent the last year working on the 1.x series implementation and i'm 
not ready to focus on the specifics of uml2 yet. because i'll basically end 
up completely re-evaluating the type system and having to rewrite the entire 
thing from scratch. moreover, uml2 is way different than uml1.x.
	c) it sucks implementing uml in c++. python would be so much easier :)

also, you can do MDA in uml1.x. it's basically the same process. uml2 is a 
complete redesign of the metamodel intended for extensibility. it's harder to 
extend uml1.x.

eventually, i'll probably start work on 2, but not until my 1.x implementation 
is done.

andy