The Object Constraint Language: Getting Your Models Ready for MDA, Second Edition

Uml

Executable UML: A Foundation for Model Driven Architecture

Format: Paperback
Author: Stephen J. Mellor
ReleaseDate: 15 May, 2002
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Rating:

Comprehensive and well-written

I have always been a fan of the rigor and completeness of the Shlaer-Mellor methodology and this book distils this rigor into a profile of UML that hopefully will inspire a wider audience to look at the reality of creating executable and translatable models. Having worked for an organization that has implemented a model-driven architecture technology approach to create highly robust software applications I can attest to the practical value of translatable models and the information and techniques in this book.

I found the book extremely well written and very complete in its treatment of every aspect of the subject from basic UML ideas through to model compilers. Unlike many technical texts I found absolutely no fluff in this book - each sentence and section has been carefully worded to be clear, consistent and unambiguous - a breath of fresh air for a pedant like myself.

I have used this book (along with Leon Starr's "Executable UML: How to Build Class Models") as a reference for my course development work on executable UML and found it invaluable. The table of contents and index are complete and well put together - something that I feel is crucial in any reference text.

I highly recommend this book for anyone using UML for software development who wants to explore this new technology of building executable and translatable models - and have it explained clearly and comprehensively.

Author correction
There is no review from "Leon Brooks," so it is unlikely there is any business relationship with a non-existent person. The review from "A reader" is erroneous.

I imagine "A reader" meant Leon *Starr* who runs an entirely separate business from those run by either of the authors. Sure, we talk and refer business each other's way, but that is to be expected. Please delete "A reader"'s review.

(If you know Leon, you'd know he says what he really thinks, even if--especially?--it's bad!).

Good ideas bear up well over time.
The first was the opening address given by one of the more insightful architects/designers of the 20th century, Christopher Alexander. Two events at the Object-Oriented Systems, Languages, and Applications Conference of 1996 were memorable for me. And the second was a debate between Stephen Mellor (one of the authors of this book) and Grady Booch on the topic "Translation: Myth or Reality?". Six years later, with the addition of Action Semantacs to UML, the Model Driven Architecture initiative of the Object Management Group, and the publication of this book, it appears that Mr. Mellor is as persistent in his position that executable (and hence translatable) models are indeed a reality, as Mr. Alexander was that the resonance between the structure of a solution and the corresponding problem is a measure of the solution's quality. Good ideas bear up well over time.

Mr. Mellor, and this book, are not for the faint hearted. It is his position that building software systems should be more about engineering a solution than artfully handcrafting one, and that to do this, one needs a disciplined process and a rigorous and precise engineering tool: Executable UML. If you agree with this tenet, and accept its implied challenge--or just want to know where they will lead you--this is a book for you.

In this book, Mellor and Balcer present a very lean and agile profile of UML and define the underlying execution semantics that enable it to be used as a valuable engineering tool for analyzing, designing, and implementing your systems. They also prescribe an engineering process to follow when modeling a software system, and thoughtfully walk the reader through this process and the various UML models with numerous examples and real-world experiences. If you use UML to model software, and aspire to engineer that software in the process, this book will give you a lot to think about and add significantly to your engineering tool chest.