UML 2.0 Roadmap: What Should Users Expect

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UML 2.0 RoadmapWhat Should Users Expect?

• Cris Kobryn
• Cris.Kobryn_at_telelogic.com
• Chief Technologist, Telelogic

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Overview

• What is UML?
• Why is UML important?
• Why UML 2.0?
• UML 2.0 status
• Featured proposalU2 Partners submission
• Issues

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What is UML?

• Unified Modeling Language is a graphical language
  for
• specifying
• visualizing
• constructing
• documenting
• the artifacts of software systems
• Derived from synthesis of Booch, OMT and
  Objectory modeling languages
• roots can be traced to data modeling and SDL
• Adopted by OMG in November 1997 as UML 1.1
• most recent minor revision is UML 1.4, adopted in
  May 2001
• next planned major revision is UML 2.0, scheduled
  to be completed during 2002

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Why is UML important?

• As software architectures grow in size and
  complexity so does the need for software models
• compare building blueprints and visual CAD
• UML is the software industrys dominant modeling
  language
• currently a de facto standard adopted by the
  Object Management Group, the worlds largest
  software consortium
• may soon be a de jure international standard (OMG
  is submitting to ISO as Publicly Available
  Specification)
• difficult to find a software project with gt 10
  developers who do not use UML in some way to
  specify their architecture
• UML has enormous growth potential
• lingua franca across the software lifecycle
  (requirements through testing) and across
  platforms and domains
• executable UML can automate software development
  reducing the chasm between analysis design and
  implementation

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Why UML 2.0?

• Although UML 1.x has enjoyed widespread
  acceptance, it shortcomings include
• excessive size
• gratuitous complexity
• uneven precision
• limited customizability
• inadequate support for components
• non-standard implementations
• lack of support for diagram interchange
• A major revision is required to address these
  issues

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UML 2.0 Status

• Requests for Proposals (RFPs)
• Proposals
• Schedule

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UML 2.0 RFPs
Diagram Interchange
Object Constraint Language
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UML 2.0 Submissions

• UML 2.0 Infrastructure
• 36 Letters of Intent (LOIs) 5 initial
  submissions by 28 companies
• UML 2.0 Superstructure
• 37 LOIs 5 initial submissions by 28 companies
• UML 2.0 OCL
• 30 LOIs 4 initial submissions by 10 companies
• UML 2.0 Diagram Interchange
• 6 LOIs 3 initial submissions by 6 companies

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UML 2.0 Schedule
19 Aug 02
UML2
Superstructure
Diagram Interchange
26 Apr 02
revised
UML 1.4.1
submissions
final report
3 Jun 02
25 Nov 02
UML2
UML 1.x
Infrastructure
Action Semantics
OCL revised
final report
submissions
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan 2002
Dec 2002
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Featured Proposal U2 Partners

• Insufficient time to review all proposals
• please download all submissions and judge for
  yourself
• U2 Partners proposal selected because
• work of the largest submission team (28
  submitters and supporters)
• balanced approach to integrating language
  Infrastructure with Superstructure
• architecturally aligned with other industry
  standards, such as ITU-T languages

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U2 Partners Proposal

• A consortium of UML vendors and users dedicated
  to making UML easier to apply, implement and
  customize
• Submitters
• Alcatel, CA, ENEA, Ericsson, HP, IBM, I-Logix,
  IONA, Kabira, Motorola, Oracle, Rational,
  SOFTEAM, Telelogic, Unisys, WebGain
• Supporters
• Ceira, Commissariat à L'Energie Atomique,
  Embarcadero, Gentleware, Intellicorp, Jaczone,
  Kennedy Carter, Lockheed Martin, MSC.Software,
  Sims Associates, Syntropy, University of
  Kaiserslautern

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Goals

• Restructure and refine the language to make it
  easier to apply, implement and customize
• increase precision
• practice reuse
• Infrastructure goals
• Define a metalanguage kernel that can define
  (bootstrap) UML and also be reused to define
  other OMG Model-Driven Architecture metamodels
  (e.g., Meta Object Facility, Common Warehouse
  Model)
• Provide more powerful mechanisms to customize UML
• allow users to define language dialects for
  platforms (e.g., J2EE, .NET) and domains (e.g.,
  telecom, finance, mil/aero).

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Goals Superstructure (contd)

• Improve support for component-based development
• specify both platform-independent components
  (e.g., business components) and platform-specific
  components (e.g., EJB, COM)
• Refine architectural specification capabilities.
• support hierarchical composition of parts with
  interfaces (compare SDL blocks and processes).
• Enhance support for real-time development.
• State machines will be updated to make them more
  scalable and generalizable, and able to support a
  transition-centric view.
• Improve support for business process modeling.
• Activities will be revised to support more
  flexible parallelism and furnish more I/O
  options.
• Increase scalability and precision of other
  behavioral constructs.
• Sequence diagrams will adapt concepts from MSCs
  that can be combined and integrated with other
  behavior.
• Deepen precision so that it better supports
  executable models.
• Review all UML 1.x constructs and diagrams.
• Refine, retire or deprecate as appropriate

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Cross-Pollination of Standards
SDL
MSC
UML
Othermodeling languages
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Coming Attractions

• Examples of proposed notation for new UML 2.0
  constructs
• work in progress

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Structured Classes
VendingMachine
part
CoinHandler
InsertCoin
DispenseCoin
Ctrl
connector
port
Hdlr
Controller
Display
port
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Components
provided interface
required interface
component
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Sequence Diagrams
sd Overview
ref
ValidateCoin
ref
ChooseProduct
else
Select
ref
DispenseProduct
opt
ref
GiveChange
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Sequence Diagrams (contd)
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Issues

• Second language syndrome
• Will UML 2.0 Be Agile or Awkward, CACM, vol.
  45, no. 1, Jan. 02.
• net weight loss features added features
  removed 0.5 features deprecated
• Paradigm evolution
• reduce impedance between object and component
  paradigms
• Language reuse libraries, profiles, and
  metamodels
• compare natural language jargon, dialects and
  families
• will SDL and/or MSC profiles still be required?
• Multiple views
• compare building blueprints and MVC architectures
  
• requires refinement and traceability across views
• Action semantics integration
• full integration vs. optional compliance point
• Architectural alignment
• relationship to OMG MDA, ITU-T languages, etc.

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Wrap Up

• UML is used extensively inside and outside OMG
• lingua franca for OMGs MDA initiative
• de facto standard ? de jure standard
• UMLs evolution is following a well-planned
  roadmap
• UML 1.4 is a mature minor revision
• UML 1.4.1 will be a maintenance revision
• UML 2.0 will be next planned major revision
• U2 Partners submission for UML 2.0 proposes many
  improvements that will benefit users
• more concise and precise
• improved support for component development,
  architectural specifications, business process
  modeling, and executable models

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Resources Web

• U2 Partners
• www.u2-partners.org
• OMG UML Resources
• www.uml.org
• UML Forum
• www.uml-forum.com
• Contains links to the UML Revision Task Force and
  UML 2.0 Working Group webs as well as other UML
  resources.
• UML Models and Methods column
• www.telelogic.com/publications/uml_models/

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Resources Other

• Mailing Lists
• uml2-wg_at_omg.org
• uml-rtf_at_omg.org
• u2p-info_at_yahoogroups.org
• Conferences Workshops
• UML Forum/Tokyo 2002, Tokyo, March 26-27, 2002.
• UML Track at SD West 2002, San Jose, CA, Apr.
  22-26, 2002.
• UML 2002, Dresden, Germany, Sep. 30-Oct. 4, 2002.
• OMG UML Workshop, San Francisco, Dec. 3-6, 2002.
• mailtocris.kobryn_at_telelogic.com?subjectquestion