UML to Ada mapping

UML to Ada mapping

[Lionel Draghi]

I am looking for experiences in Ada code generation from UML design.

1 - Is code generation part of future UML normalization?

2 - Are there some widespread practices in UML to Ada mapping?

3 - What part of UML easily map to code?

4 - Do tools support code generation? Do they only generate an initial
    code framework, or is it still possible to use them while coding?

Thanks.

PS: I read Stephane Barbeys paper
"Ada 95 as Implementation Language for Object-Oriented Designs" (1995).
It's a quite interresting paper, but based on the Fusion method.


________________________________________________________________________
Lionel Draghi              


http://ada.eu.org/gtkada/                              http://attac.org/

Re: UML to Ada mapping

[Tucker Taft]

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Roland Petrasch (petrasch@fhtw-berlin.de) wrote:

: Dear Lionel Draghi,
: as far as I know, there is no ADA-generating UML-Tool. 
: ...

I believe Rational Rose supports Ada generation from UML,
as does Aonix Software-Through-Pictures.
I think some of the others do as well (e.g. Cayenne's tools).

It is probably true that you don't get the sources for
a full, executable program, but rather mostly package
and type definitions.

: Roland Petrasch
: Fachhochschule f�r Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin
: Fachbereich 4, Studiengang Wirtschaftsinformatik
: Verwaltungsgeb�ude Raum VG 825
: Treskowallee 8
: 10318 Berlin

: Telefon:  (030) 5019-2260 / 2328 (Sekretariat FB 4)
: Fax:      (030) 5019-2462
: Email:    petrasch@fhtw-berlin.de oder petrasch@acm.org
: WWW:      http://www.f4.fhtw-berlin.de/people/petrasch/
: privat:   (030) 891 72 04 (Kurf�rstendamm 142, 10709 Berlin, Germany)
: Funk:     0177 321 21 58

--
-Tucker Taft   stt@averstar.com   http://www.averstar.com/~stt/
Technical Director, Distributed IT Solutions  (www.averstar.com/tools)
AverStar (formerly Intermetrics, Inc.)   Burlington, MA  USA

Re: UML to Ada mapping

[Lionel Draghi]

Roland Petrasch wrote:
> 
> Dear Lionel Draghi,
> 
> as far as I know, there is no ADA-generating UML-Tool. It seems to be
> impossible to fully generate code from an UML-specification (UML has some
> serious deficits and inconsistencies - this was discussed on the conference
> CONQUEST 98 in N�rnberg, Germany). UML-tools are able to generate
> class-frames with some additional informations (e.g. associations to other
> classes are considered, but it is still the responsibility of the software
> engineer to make the design decisions, i.e. vector, tree, array, liked list
> or other container to implement for instance an aggregation). From my point
> of view you need a lot more formal information to generate code (C++, Java,
> ADA or whatever), because UML has serveral defiencies. The following parts
> of the UML are helpful for code generation:
> - packages, classes and class-diagram: classes, methods/procs and member
> variables can be created. The modules exists in packages with their
> namespace.
> - State transition diagrams: They can be used to implement FSMs in
> conjunction with or inside a class.
> - Active objects: These stereotyped classes represent processes or threads
> (also useful for code generation)
> - Deployment diagram: Not for code generation but for design decisions
> Sequence and collaboration diagrams are on the object level and can be used
> only indirect for the system behavior. Similiar are the activity diagrams:
> The notation is so flexible that you can do almost everything (and maybe
> better nothing) with it.
> Round-trip-engineering is difficult: Once the UML-tools have generated the
> code, you are allowed to put your additional code (algorithms and other
> stuff) only on special areas (which is sometimes an unacceptable
> restriction). UML needs more time to get rid of its problems. On my opinion,
> UML first has to become a _real_ standard, so after 1 or 2 years we will see
> the first experience with UML, UML-tools and Ada.
> 
> Your questions are interesting and I hope I could contribute to the
> discussion (despite my English mistakes).

Thanks for your contribution, Roland.

Unfortunatly, there is almost no reaction on my quetion on
comp.lang.ada. I was hohewer shure it was the best place to discuss this
point.

On the contrary, i get a lot of answers on the French UML list (that's
why i also forward your message to this list).
Concerning your summary on diagrams use for Ada code generation, i get
close answers.
I will send a summary a the end of this thread.

Relating to your opinion on the UML and UML tools maturity, tools
providers obviously don't agree with you. Today, Nasser Ketani
(Rational) was proud to precise that Rose allows Round Trip Engineering
even with Ada, although it is not as obvious as in Java or C++. 

I'm interrested in your point about the limitations in the manual code
completion.

Thanks again.

> 
> Best regards
> Roland Petrasch
> 
....
>

________________________________________________________________________
Lionel Draghi              

PS : Afin que je progresse sans trop d'efforts, Merci de bien vouloir me
     signaler mes fautes en Anglais et en Italien.

http://ada.eu.org/gtkada/                              http://attac.org/

Re: UML to Ada mapping

[Roland Petrasch]

Dear Lionel Draghi,

as far as I know, there is no ADA-generating UML-Tool. It seems to be
impossible to fully generate code from an UML-specification (UML has some
serious deficits and inconsistencies - this was discussed on the conference
CONQUEST 98 in N�rnberg, Germany). UML-tools are able to generate
class-frames with some additional informations (e.g. associations to other
classes are considered, but it is still the responsibility of the software
engineer to make the design decisions, i.e. vector, tree, array, liked list
or other container to implement for instance an aggregation). From my point
of view you need a lot more formal information to generate code (C++, Java,
ADA or whatever), because UML has serveral defiencies. The following parts
of the UML are helpful for code generation:
- packages, classes and class-diagram: classes, methods/procs and member
variables can be created. The modules exists in packages with their
namespace.
- State transition diagrams: They can be used to implement FSMs in
conjunction with or inside a class.
- Active objects: These stereotyped classes represent processes or threads
(also useful for code generation)
- Deployment diagram: Not for code generation but for design decisions
Sequence and collaboration diagrams are on the object level and can be used
only indirect for the system behavior. Similiar are the activity diagrams:
The notation is so flexible that you can do almost everything (and maybe
better nothing) with it.
Round-trip-engineering is difficult: Once the UML-tools have generated the
code, you are allowed to put your additional code (algorithms and other
stuff) only on special areas (which is sometimes an unacceptable
restriction). UML needs more time to get rid of its problems. On my opinion,
UML first has to become a _real_ standard, so after 1 or 2 years we will see
the first experience with UML, UML-tools and Ada.

Your questions are interesting and I hope I could contribute to the
discussion (despite my English mistakes).

Best regards
Roland Petrasch

-----------------------------------------------------------
Roland Petrasch
Fachhochschule f�r Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin
Fachbereich 4, Studiengang Wirtschaftsinformatik
Verwaltungsgeb�ude Raum VG 825
Treskowallee 8
10318 Berlin

Telefon:  (030) 5019-2260 / 2328 (Sekretariat FB 4)
Fax:      (030) 5019-2462
Email:    petrasch@fhtw-berlin.de oder petrasch@acm.org
WWW:      http://www.f4.fhtw-berlin.de/people/petrasch/
privat:   (030) 891 72 04 (Kurf�rstendamm 142, 10709 Berlin, Germany)
Funk:     0177 321 21 58

Re: UML to Ada mapping

[Pierre Dissaux]

Tucker Taft wrote:
> 
> Roland Petrasch (petrasch@fhtw-berlin.de) wrote:
> 
> : Dear Lionel Draghi,
> : as far as I know, there is no ADA-generating UML-Tool.
> : ...
> 
> I believe Rational Rose supports Ada generation from UML,
> as does Aonix Software-Through-Pictures.
> I think some of the others do as well (e.g. Cayenne's tools).
> 
> It is probably true that you don't get the sources for
> a full, executable program, but rather mostly package
> and type definitions.
> 

It doesn't use UML notation, but the HOOD method (http://www.hood.be) is
a comprehensive OO design process mainly used in European space and
avionics projects. During definition phase of version 4 of the method in
1995, one of the requirements was to specifically target Ada95.

Most Ada concepts may thus be directly handled at design level (tagged
types, protected types, tasking, exceptions, generic packages, ...), and
consistent design documentation may be produced.

We provide a full HOOD4 to Ada95 code generator and reverse coding in
our STOOD tool. Direct link to Ada compilers is implemented (gnat and
ObjectAda for now). Free demo CD upon simple request.

Pierre Dissaux

TNI
http://www.tni.fr/

Re: UML to Ada mapping

[dennison]

In article <F5K36D.I23.0.-s@inmet.camb.inmet.com>,
  stt@houdini.camb.inmet.com (Tucker Taft) wrote:
> Roland Petrasch (petrasch@fhtw-berlin.de) wrote:
>
> : Dear Lionel Draghi,
> : as far as I know, there is no ADA-generating UML-Tool.
> : ...
>
> I believe Rational Rose supports Ada generation from UML,
> as does Aonix Software-Through-Pictures.
> I think some of the others do as well (e.g. Cayenne's tools).
>

Yes Cayenne's ObjectTeam can generate Ada code from UML, and UML from Ada
code. However, Cayenne has recently been Borged by Sterling Software.
ObjectTeam has been recristined "COOL:Jex".

T.E.D.

-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/       Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own    

Re: UML to Ada mapping

[Lionel Draghi]

Nasser Kettani wrote:
> 
> NO NO NO NO.
> 
> I have never said that Rose allows Round Trip Engineering (RTE) for Ada.
> 
>              I was proud to say exactly the contrary.
> 

Ok, i apologize to spread my misunderstanding.

> I reacted to Softeam saying that RTE was EASY for Ada since they claim RTE
> support
> for C++ and Java.
> And my reaction was to say that for Ada, it is quite difficult and Rose
> does not
> support it.
> 
> However, there might be some misunderstanding regarding RTE definiion.
> 
> Our definition of RTE is that we maintain consistency between code and the
> UML model
> WHATEVER the user does. Especially, if the user modifies the code after
> generation
> and adds design information in the code as as a new class, a new association,
> a new inheritance relationship, ...
> 
> In this case, talking about RTE for Ada is misleading.
> 
> If your definition of RTE is
>         -1 model
>         -2 generate code
>         -3 modify code
>         -4 modify manually the model
>         -5 regenerate code and keep changes.
> 
>                 so, Rose supports that for Ada95
> 
I have no definition for RTE, but yours seems to be the best that one
can expect from a tool for the code generation point.
However, the process above described can be also effective.
It is a reasonable constraint to do, as described by Sylvain Wallez,
"structural" modifications in the tools, and coding details outside. I
had also a conclusive experience doing so with Intecs HOOD tools.
The important point, i think, is that the tools should be able to
import/export the code part outside of its scope without problems.

> Regards
> 
> Nasser
> 
> >Relating to your opinion on the UML and UML tools maturity, tools
> >providers obviously don't agree with you. Today, Nasser Ketani
> >(Rational) was proud to precise that Rose allows Round Trip Engineering
> >even with Ada, although it is not as obvious as in Java or C++.
> >
> 
> Nasser Kettani
> ************
...

________________________________________________________________________
Lionel Draghi              

http://ada.eu.org/gtkada/                              http://attac.org/

Re: UML to Ada mapping

[Roland Petrasch]

Hi,

I only want to make a short comment von RTE: Some tool-manufacturer promise the
complete possiblity of round trip engineering without explaining their definition
of RTE.
BUT: There are limitations which often are not mentioned. Sometimes it would be
helpful to get more information, e.g. restrictions with additional modules.
Specially with UML tools the user is confused beacuse the manufacturers promise
UML-support without full support of model or model elemente, e.g. activity diagrams
or layer/levels are not supported from ObjectIF. So be careful with the adversising
slogan "We support UML" or "With our tool RTE is possible".

Best Regards
Roland

UML to Ada Mapping

[Alvery Grazebrook]

"Martin Dowie" <martin.dowie@no.spam.btopenworld.com> wrote in message news:<atau5l$s9p$1@knossos.btinternet.com>...
> "Alvery Grazebrook" <alveryg@artisansw.com> wrote in message
> > > Artisan has Ada support, and is fairly well-known to real-time
> > > users. As far as I can tell, it's rather fixed in its views; if you
> > > need lots more control over what gets generated, you'd probably be
> > > better off using Aonix's ACD via Software through Pictures.
> > >
> > The Artisan tool, Real-time Studio has been evolving its Ada code
> > support. The code-generator is template based, so you can customize it
> > any way you like. It also includes reverse engineering and what we
> > call "Synchronization". This is basically a differencing engine to
> > compare the current state of the code with the current state of the
> > model, combined with a resolution capability that will re-generate or
> > reverse any parts that you select based on the differences.
> 
> But is reversing and synchronisation available once you customise
> the templates?
> 
> This isn't just a question for Artisan but for all UML tools.

Since you ask, there are 2 parts to the answer. 

The simple answer is that the reversing works to a defined mapping,
and the synchronizer supports a pre-defined range of possible mappings
when producing the comparison view. This means that synchronization
works cleanly for all generation templates that generate code that
conform to the semantics of the reverser's Ada -> UML mapping, and
will show differences otherwise.

The second part to the answer is that the job of a synchronizer is to
help translate UML model to Ada and back. Given that the semantics of
Ada is well defined, and the semantics of UML is reasonably well
defined, the only part of the mapping that is at issue is the way you
need to annotate the UML model to cover the features supported by Ada
that aren't supported by UML. The Ada UK community has taken up the
challenge of developing an Ada Profile (for UML) to define the UML
extensions required for the mapping.

A profile in UML is a set of extended properties that can be attached
to UML elements (e.g. operations, classes) to identify them as having
a particular significance.

For example, Ada 95 has several "structures" that can contain
variables, sub-programs etc. they are:
 Package, task type, protected type, and subprogram 
UML has only two: 
 Class, Package
Therefore the UML Class, in particular, needs extra annotation to
determine whether it should map to an Ada package, a task type or a
protected type.

Does anyone in this community have an interest in participating in the
definition of an Ada profile?

Cheers,
    Alvery
(Product Manager, Artisan software tools, wwww.artisansw.com)

Re: UML to Ada Mapping

[Bruce Hennessy]

I am interested in participating in a definition of an Ada profile. I am
currently working to present designs for mods to an existing large system
written in Ada, which hasn't really got any designs (i.e. cohesive model
diagrams and text that depict how the system hangs together). This can be
put together with UML and non-standard drawings, but I would very much
prefer extensions to UML that can then be standardized - in any case I would
look to establish them across this project.

I have seen web extensions done for UML, and will be looking at Ada
extensions immediately.

Bruce



"Alvery Grazebrook" <alveryg@artisansw.com> wrote in message
news:f4031917.0212160524.15757ec3@posting.google.com...
> "Martin Dowie" <martin.dowie@no.spam.btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:<atau5l$s9p$1@knossos.btinternet.com>...
> > "Alvery Grazebrook" <alveryg@artisansw.com> wrote in message
> > > > Artisan has Ada support, and is fairly well-known to real-time
> > > > users. As far as I can tell, it's rather fixed in its views; if you
> > > > need lots more control over what gets generated, you'd probably be
> > > > better off using Aonix's ACD via Software through Pictures.
> > > >
> > > The Artisan tool, Real-time Studio has been evolving its Ada code
> > > support. The code-generator is template based, so you can customize it
> > > any way you like. It also includes reverse engineering and what we
> > > call "Synchronization". This is basically a differencing engine to
> > > compare the current state of the code with the current state of the
> > > model, combined with a resolution capability that will re-generate or
> > > reverse any parts that you select based on the differences.
> >
> > But is reversing and synchronisation available once you customise
> > the templates?
> >
> > This isn't just a question for Artisan but for all UML tools.
>
> Since you ask, there are 2 parts to the answer.
>
> The simple answer is that the reversing works to a defined mapping,
> and the synchronizer supports a pre-defined range of possible mappings
> when producing the comparison view. This means that synchronization
> works cleanly for all generation templates that generate code that
> conform to the semantics of the reverser's Ada -> UML mapping, and
> will show differences otherwise.
>
> The second part to the answer is that the job of a synchronizer is to
> help translate UML model to Ada and back. Given that the semantics of
> Ada is well defined, and the semantics of UML is reasonably well
> defined, the only part of the mapping that is at issue is the way you
> need to annotate the UML model to cover the features supported by Ada
> that aren't supported by UML. The Ada UK community has taken up the
> challenge of developing an Ada Profile (for UML) to define the UML
> extensions required for the mapping.
>
> A profile in UML is a set of extended properties that can be attached
> to UML elements (e.g. operations, classes) to identify them as having
> a particular significance.
>
> For example, Ada 95 has several "structures" that can contain
> variables, sub-programs etc. they are:
>  Package, task type, protected type, and subprogram
> UML has only two:
>  Class, Package
> Therefore the UML Class, in particular, needs extra annotation to
> determine whether it should map to an Ada package, a task type or a
> protected type.
>
> Does anyone in this community have an interest in participating in the
> definition of an Ada profile?
>
> Cheers,
>     Alvery
> (Product Manager, Artisan software tools, wwww.artisansw.com)

Re: UML to Ada Mapping

[Simon Wright]

At the last Ada UK conference, the team decided to work on a profile.
Given my interests I clearly should have participated, but I didn't
feel I could give it quite the attention it deserved. Perhaps I should
get back to it.

The contact point is
http://www.the-training-centre.co.uk/JRA/JRA%20News%20Archive%203.html

-- 
Simon Wright                       Work Email: simon.j.wright@amsjv.com
AMS                                           Voice: +44(0)23-9270-1778
Integrated Systems Division                     FAX: +44(0)23-9270-1800

Re: UML to Ada Mapping

[Jean-Pierre Rosen]

[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 618 bytes --]


"Simon Wright" <simon@pushface.org> a �crit dans le message de news: mailman.10.1045170595.13246.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org...
> At the last Ada UK conference, the team decided to work on a profile.
> Given my interests I clearly should have participated, but I didn't
> feel I could give it quite the attention it deserved. Perhaps I should
> get back to it.
>
Note that there is a paper on Ada-UML profile at the upcoming Ada-Europe conference.
(PLUG, PLUG :-)

--
---------------------------------------------------------
           J-P. Rosen (rosen@adalog.fr)
Visit Adalog's web site at http://www.adalog.fr

RE: UML to Ada Mapping

[Lionel.DRAGHI]

| -----Message d'origine-----
| De: Simon Wright [mailto:simon@pushface.org]
..
| At the last Ada UK conference, the team decided to work on a profile.

I think this work will be presented in the Ada-Europe conference in Toulouse
(France) in June.

I don't have the program URL handy to confirm, but i posted the news on the
Ada-France site:  search "Ada-Europe" on the http://www.ada-france.org site,
and follows the links to the conference programs.

Lionel Draghi

Re: UML to Ada Mapping

[John Robinson]

The Ada UK User Group have set up a working group to look at a UML Ada
Profile.

This is (currently) unrelated to the work being presented at Ada-Europe,
although links are being established between the groups.

The initial meeting of the Ada UK working group is being held on Monday 24th
February 2003, and has attracted some 17 attendees.

Anyone interested in participating in this group, or keeping abreast of
developments, should contact myself in the first instance
(John@JohnRobinsonAndAssociates.com).

Hopefully the group will also be presenting regularly at the two annual Ada
UK User Group conferences.  We also encourage anyone with similar interests
and activities to consider submitting material to these conferences.

Information on the Ada UK User Group, the conferences and other user group
activities can be found at www.AdaUK.org.uk.

Best regards
John Robinson
John Robinson And Associates Ltd

<Lionel.DRAGHI@fr.thalesgroup.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.14.1045217347.13246.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org...
>
>
> | -----Message d'origine-----
> | De: Simon Wright [mailto:simon@pushface.org]
> ..
> | At the last Ada UK conference, the team decided to work on a profile.
>
> I think this work will be presented in the Ada-Europe conference in
Toulouse
> (France) in June.
>
> I don't have the program URL handy to confirm, but i posted the news on
the
> Ada-France site:  search "Ada-Europe" on the http://www.ada-france.org
site,
> and follows the links to the conference programs.
>
> Lionel Draghi