Will UML 2.0 Be Agile or Awkward?

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	Will UML 2.0 Be Agile or Awkward?
Authors:	Kobryn, Cris^1,2 Cris.Kobryn@telelogic.com
Source:	Communications of the ACM. Jan2002, Vol. 45 Issue 1, p107-110. 4p.
Subjects:	Unified modeling language, Object Management Group Inc., Application software, Computer programming, Programming languages, Computer software development
Abstract:	The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been widely accepted throughout the software industry and successfully applied to diverse domains ever since it was adopted by Object Management Group Inc. (OMG) in 1997. In those four years, UML has become the de facto standard for specifying software architectures that increase in value as one progress from simple design models to multi view enterprise blueprints. Indeed, it is becoming difficult to find a software project with more than 10 developers that does not employ UML in some way to specific part of the software architecture. While UML has been growing in popularity among software developers, the software methods and practices it supports have also been evolving steadily. Considering these trends, as well as numerous requests for UML improvements, it should not be surprising that OMG has decided that UML 1 is ready for a major revision. The UML 2.0 major revision represents both an excellent opportunity and a serious responsibility for its language designers. It is a chance for them to resolve the shortcomings of UML 1 and make the language more current and precise. At the same time, it charges them with the responsibility for improving the language without succumbing to scope creep and design-by-committee compromises. For reasons to be discussed, discharging this responsibility for UML 2.0 will likely be challenging.
Database:	Engineering Source

Description
Abstract:	The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been widely accepted throughout the software industry and successfully applied to diverse domains ever since it was adopted by Object Management Group Inc. (OMG) in 1997. In those four years, UML has become the de facto standard for specifying software architectures that increase in value as one progress from simple design models to multi view enterprise blueprints. Indeed, it is becoming difficult to find a software project with more than 10 developers that does not employ UML in some way to specific part of the software architecture. While UML has been growing in popularity among software developers, the software methods and practices it supports have also been evolving steadily. Considering these trends, as well as numerous requests for UML improvements, it should not be surprising that OMG has decided that UML 1 is ready for a major revision. The UML 2.0 major revision represents both an excellent opportunity and a serious responsibility for its language designers. It is a chance for them to resolve the shortcomings of UML 1 and make the language more current and precise. At the same time, it charges them with the responsibility for improving the language without succumbing to scope creep and design-by-committee compromises. For reasons to be discussed, discharging this responsibility for UML 2.0 will likely be challenging.
ISSN:	00010782
DOI:	10.1145/502269.502306