n versioning

n versioning

[Ananth the Boss]

thanks to all for ur interst in helping me.in my case the problem spec
is the same and the problem is independantly developed by three
different groups in three different languages. instead of coding the
same problem thrice in three different programming languages; is there
any approach like UML so that we can develop software models and from
that the code can be generated automatically?

Re: n versioning

[Jeffrey Creem]

Ananth the Boss wrote:
> thanks to all for ur interst in helping me.in my case the problem spec
> is the same and the problem is independantly developed by three
> different groups in three different languages. instead of coding the
> same problem thrice in three different programming languages; is there
> any approach like UML so that we can develop software models and from
> that the code can be generated automatically?
> 

If the thought is to start from UML and generate (automatically) three 
different code models in 3 different programming languages I think you 
are really missing the point.

You will still just have one UML model which, if it contains flaws will 
almost certainly be present in all of the generated code.


At this point, I am having a hard time trying to really understand the 
purpose of these posts. They are too mild to be a troll but at the same 
time, the thought that a group has been hired to write safety critical 
software with no experience at all and an apparent inability to use 
google is pretty scary.

I can only hope you switch to something like C++ and whatever the 
application is far enough away from me and my family so that when it 
fails, nothing that I care about gets hurt.

I hesitate to post such a mean spirited reply but unless this is just 
some sort of an academic exercise, it really does seem like an accident 
waiting to happen.

Re: n versioning

[Ananth the Boss]

well mr thanks for the reply. my question is just to look out any
approach other than N versioning. aslo i didnt mean to generate the
code in three different languages.. because all are going to be the
same.and ther is no point in generating code for one design in three
languages.

Re: n versioning

[Leif Holmgren]

Ananth the Boss wrote:
> thanks to all for ur interst in helping me.in my case the problem spec
> is the same and the problem is independantly developed by three
> different groups in three different languages. instead of coding the
> same problem thrice in three different programming languages; is there
> any approach like UML so that we can develop software models and from
> that the code can be generated automatically?

Yes.

I can recommend this approach, but do not think it will come cheap or 
out of the box. Costs will only be slightly smaller than with standard 
programming (but much lower than n-versioning anyway).

I suggest you call Mentor and ask them to come and show you BridgePoint. 
They have code generators that will give you C, C++, Java and Ada. If 
they claim not to have Java or Ada, ask them again.

However having out of the box code generator is not what you want, trust 
  me. It will give you a good starting point to learn how to make 
platform independent models. If you already know UML you will have to 
un-learn a lot a re-learn what object oriented analysis is really about.

For all full MDA projects the old saying "Uncertainty is not an option" 
is not to be taken mildly. What's not in your model will not be in your 
generated code.

After one or two years of (re)learning to model you will discover that 
you need a team maintaining the model compilers just as large as your 
modelling team. My experience is that by that time you will have a 
problem in convincing your management that this is true, after all you 
bought a model compiler so that you would have auto-generated code.

Another thing you will learn is that it's not the same people that 
should do the modelling as you may be used to. The modelling really 
should be done by the domain experts. So if your model is targeted at 
flight control it should be done by those who really know what flight 
control is about, not by your software staff. Other models you do may be 
targeted at communication and should therefore be done by experts in 
communication. Your software staff should possibly not be doing 
modelling at all. (See above)

I also suggest you hire a professional to get you started. The man my 
company has used is Leon Starr, but i'm sure there are alternatives. He 
is however a real pro at this.

The only drawback I have found using xtUML is it's weak support for 
mathematical stuff. Implementing some mathematical algorithms will be a 
real problem and may perhaps be better to do directly in the target 
language and bridge into your models.

If someone points you towards iLogix I would like to warn you a bit. 
Their tool does not support true platform independent modelling. You 
have to write action code in the target language, which in the end takes 
away the possibilities of simulating your code without first generating 
and it will allow your modellers to do stuff that should not be in your 
analysis models. And since your models then contains target specific 
stuff you will not have the possibility to change target language.

KennedyCarter also has a product of which I have no experience.

/Leif