Why Did I Choose to Use Astah/ Jude UML?

-

To set the records straight, my perception of UML (and the related tools) is as follows:

  1. I perceive UML as a standard modelling language to facilitate discussion, collaboration, and documentation
  2. I do not adhere strictly to the UML standards/ modelling constraints
  3. I am seldom interested in forward-engineering, code generation, MDA, etc.

I’ve used several UML modelling tools (and even the infamous, MS Visio) in the past. The common issues I had with many of these are:

  1. too much constraints that cannot be relaxed (e.g. very strict adherence to UML constraints/ rules/ profiles)
  2. too implementation/ platform specific
  3. too slow, too huge, memory-hogger
  4. too process-driven
  5. too code-driven

So far, I’ve found that Jude (and now, Astah) is able to meet most of my needs with some minor tweaks and improvements that I hope can be resolved soon (e.g. the tagged values should be displayed in the UML diagram)

In addition, there is even the mind-map feature added as a plus!

For more information, please visit: Astah

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding ITIL Service Management the UML way…

-
Image
I originally had a great deal of difficult reconciling the differences amongst ITIL Change Management, Incident Management, and Problem Management. Having researched on the subjects and understanding them better now, I’ve tried to put the concepts together using a UML class diagram to capture my understanding and to keep it imprinted. Similarly, I wanted to differentiate the various categories of changes (Standard, Emergency, Normal) using an easy to understand & self-explanatory manner – a UML Activity Diagram!
Read more

How to depict (Professional-Looking) Logical Network Diagrams in Astah

-
Image
I have always had to create (professional-looking) UML diagrams using Visio-like icons. You’ve got to admit that showing a bunch of boring UML boxes hardly interests anyone less technical (like anyone whose designation has the words “manager” or “director”). This is actually possible in Astah! I’ve created a template for future projects that allows me to produce logical network diagrams that look like the following: To create this diagram, you need to do the following: Assign various icons to stereotypes. I created the following for my use: Create a new UML Deployment Diagram Every element in the diagram is created as a Node The nodes are subsequently assigned the appropriate <<stereotype>>. E.g. Internet is <<internet>>, WebZone FW is <<firewall>>, Web LB is <<loadBalancer>> Ensure the “Icon Notation” is set to “Customized Icon” for each node Instead of the boring boxes, the corresponding icons automatically gets displayed!
Read more