Executable UML: A Foundation for Model-Driven Architecture
By Stephen J. Mellor, Marc J. Balcer
    
Publisher : Addison Wesley
Pub Date : May 14, 2002
ISBN : 0-201-74804-5
Pages : 416 

Executable UML is a major innovation in the field of software development. It is designed to produce a comprehensive and understandable model of a solution independent of the organization of the software implementation. It is a highly abstract thinking tool that aids in the formalization of knowledge, and is also a way of describing the concepts that make up abstract solutions to software development problems.

This timely new book, Executable UML: A Foundation for Model-Driven Architecture, thoroughly introduces, documents, and explains this important new technology. The authors show how UML can formalize requirements and use cases into a rich set of verifiable diagrams, how it can be used to produce executable and testable models, and how these models can be translated directly into code. In addition, the book explains how individual system domains are woven together by an executable UML model compiler.

The book is full of tips and techniques to help you:

Partition a system into subject matters based on individual aspects

Pick the right level for use case modeling to speed subject matter comprehension

Model classes and focus on relationships to capture subject matter semantics precisely

Express behavior using the newly adopted UML action semantics and action languages

Specify constraints using tags specified in OCL (Object Constraint Language)


In addition, this book tackles topics of particular importance in execution, such as how to:

Synchronize objects by building lifecycles using statechart diagrams

Model relationships and contention safely

Distribute dynamics to avoid unmaintainable controller objects

Verify the models by executing test cases against the statechart diagrams and constraints

Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the only possible Executable UML?

No. This rendition views each object as potentially having a state machine that can execute asynchronously and concurrently. We view this approach as necessary for today's distributed computing environments. However, one could define an executable UML that relies on synchronous method calls between objects to produce a completely synchronous model of the subject matter. Similarly, our particular use of the statechart diagram is not the only possible one.
Is Executable UML a standard?

Yes and No. The notational elements you see in this book conform to UML, and so qualify as a profile of that standard. In addition, the execution semantics defined here conform to UML, though we do both subset UML and impose certain rules to link the elements together. What is not yet a standard is the exact content of what can and should be interchanged so that we can guarantee that any and all model compilers, irrespective of vendor, can compile any arbitrary executable UML model.

Throughout this book, we use standards as much as they are established. In some areas, the book is intended to provide a basis for discussion of what should ultimately become a standard.
Will there be a standard one day, and how might it differ?

Yes, we hope so. Work has begun informally to define a standard and we will encourage and support it. We expect the standard to define an underlying semantics quite similar to that outlined here, and to layer increasingly rich syntax on top.
Does that mean I should wait?

Not at all. This technology is taking off, and the basic elements are already established. Get ahead of the learning curve.
I know hardly anything about UML. Is this book too advanced for me?

We assume you have an intuitive understanding of the goals behind UML, but nothing more. We will show you all the elements you need to build an executable UML model.
I'm a long-time UML user. Do I need this book?

If you want to garner the benefits of Executable UML, then you'll have to learn the elements that make it up. Focus on the definitions we use and the chapters that show how to build and execute models. Skip the notational stuff. Be prepared to unlearn some UML and habits of mind required to model software structure, but not required to specify an executable model.
What happened to adornments such as aggregation or composition?

We don't need them for Executable UML. UML enables you to model software structure, but that's not our purpose here, so those adornments, and many others, are not in our profile.
Some of this seems familiar. Is this just Shlaer-Mellor in UML clothing?

Shlaer-Mellor focused on execution and specification of an abstract solution, not on specifying software structure. UML can be used for both the expression of software structure and the abstract model. Executable UML brings Shlaer-Mellor and UML together by using UML notation and incorporating concepts of execution. We hope this will make execution accessible to a broader community.
I've used Shlaer-Mellor before. Is this any different?

A lot can happen in this industry in ten weeks, let alone the ten years since the publication of Object Lifecycles. First of all, of course, we all now use UML notation and vocabulary. (Resistance was futile.) Executable UML takes a more object-oriented perspective, no longer requiring identifiers or referential attributes, or other traces of Shlaer-Mellor's relational roots.

The addition of an action semantics to the UML is a major step forward. We hope the action semantics, and the very concept of an executable and translatable UML may one day be seen as a significant contribution of the Shlaer-Mellor community.

Progress in tools has also made certain conventions, such as event numbering, less critical to model understanding, though they are still helpful in keeping our minds clear.
Why do you say "Action Semantics?"

Because UML defines only the semantics of actions, it does not define a language.
But how can you execute without an action language?

We use an action semantics朿onforming language that is executable today. We show several other action languages to illustrate that syntax is unimportant.
You use an Online Bookstore case study. Can I use this if I'm a real-time developer?

Yes. We chose a more IT-oriented case study to increase the reach of the approach. You can find a completely worked out real-time case study in Leon Starr's book Executable UML: The Elevator Case Study.
How can I get an Executable UML tool?

All of the examples in this book were developed using Project Technology's tool, BridgePoint. A copy of BridgePoint can be downloaded from the book's website, www.executableUMLbook.com.
How is this different from the old "draw the pictures, get some code" CASE tools?

There are two main differences. First, compiling models produces the whole system, not just interfaces or frameworks. Second, there are many different model compilers available to buy, and even more that can be built, to meet exacting software architecture needs.
Where has Executable UML been used?

Executable UML has been used to generate systems as large as two million lines of C++, and as small as handheld drug delivery devices. Executable UML has also been used in lease-origination, web-enabled executive reporting, and intermodal transportation logistics systems.
Why did you write this book?

Because we had nothing better to do? No: There are lots of books out there that tell you about UML notation, but few of them focus on the subset you need for executability. Many books use UML to describe software structure. We explicitly spurn this usage.
Why should I buy this book?

Because it describes completely everything you need to know about executable UML: It's the Executable UML handbook.

Download the free chm ebook: Executable UML: A Foundation for Model-Driven Architecture

Beautiful Architecture, 1st Edition
by Diomidis Spinellis; Georgios Gousios
 
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Pub Date: January 29, 2009
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-596-51798-4
 
Pages: 432 

What are the ingredients of robust, elegant, flexible, and maintainable software architecture? Beautiful Architecture answers this question through a collection of intriguing essays from more than a dozen of today's leading software designers and architects. In each essay, contributors present a notable software architecture, and analyze what makes it innovative and ideal for its purpose. Some of the engineers in this book reveal how they developed a specific project, including decisions they faced and tradeoffs they made. Others take a step back to investigate how certain architectural aspects have influenced computing as a whole. With this book, you'll discover:

• How Facebook's architecture is the basis for a data-centric application ecosystem

• The effect of Xen's well-designed architecture on the way operating systems evolve

• How community processes within the KDE project help software architectures evolve from rough sketches to beautiful systems

• How creeping featurism has helped GNU Emacs gain unanticipated functionality

• The magic behind the Jikes RVM self-optimizable, self-hosting runtime

• Design choices and building blocks that made Tandem the choice platform in high-availability environments for over two decades

• Differences and similarities between object-oriented and functional architectural views

• How architectures can affect the software's evolution and the developers' engagement

Go behind the scenes to learn what it takes to design elegant software architecture, and how it can shape the way you approach your own projects, with Beautiful Architecture.

Download the free chm ebook: Beautiful Architecture, 1st Edition

Title: Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java
Author: Partha Kuchana
Publisher:  CRC Press
Format: PDF

Partha Kuchana is an experienced enterprise systems architect. He understands
that patterns are not about things that are just good ideas, but that patterns are
about capturing knowledge bred from experience. This hard-won knowledge is
what Partha is sharing with readers of his book. Here are some of the things I
really like about what he has to say.
The  book  presents  42  design  patterns,  which  include  the  23  GoF  patterns.
These patterns are categorized as follows:
  7 Basic patterns
  5 Creational patterns
  4 Collectional patterns
 11 Structural patterns
 11 Behavioral patterns
  4 Concurrency patterns

Click here to download the Free Book: Software Architecture Design Patterns in Java.pdf

Title: Building Java Enterprise Applications Volume I Architecture
Author: Brett McLaughlin
Format: PDF
Publisher: O'Reilly
First Edition March 2002
ISBN: 0-569-00123-1, 318 pages

If you're basing your livelihood on Java these days, you are going to run across at least one
enterprise application programming project; if it hasn't come upon you already, it's just around
the corner. I've been faced with more than twenty at this point in my career, and see many
more in my future. Each time I get into these projects, I find myself paging through book after
book and searching the Web, looking for the same information time after time. Additionally,
I've developed a bit of a toolkit for handling common enterprise tasks.

What I have determined is that there are many terrific books on specific technologies like
Enterprise JavaBeans, servlets, and the Java Message Service. These books cover the details
of these APIs and explain how to use them. I have also found, though, that there is no
resource in existence that describes connecting these components in an intelligent way. No
coherent examples are documented and explained that tell how best to code fa?ade patterns,
attach entity beans to directory servers, use servlets and JSP with EJB without killing
performance, or a host of other common tasks. At the same time, these very issues are the
heart of my job description, and probably of many other programmers' as well.

Rather than simply write a short article or two and fall short of really addressing the topic
(something I see lots of people doing), I convinced O'Reilly & Associates to put forth an
exhaustive series on enterprise programming in Java. I'm proud to say that you have in your
hands the first volume of that series. It covers the back-end of application programming and
explains databases, entity beans, session beans, the Java Message Service, JNDI, RMI, LDAP,
and a whole lot more.

The topic will be extended in the next two volumes, which are already planned. The second
volume will cover traditional web applications, including HTTP, HTML, servlets, JSP, and
XML presentation solutions. The third volume will detail the web services paradigm,
demonstrating the use of UDDI, SOAP, WSDL, and other emerging technologies.

In each volume, you will find extensive code (the code listings in this book, without
comments, total well over 100 pages, about 30% of the actual book), without needless
instruction or banter. I've gotten straight to the point, and tried to let you see code, not
discussion of code, whenever possible. I hope that you enjoy the series, and that it aids you in
your own enterprise application programming.

Download: Building Java Enterprise Applications Volume I Architecture.pdf

Title: Patterns of enterprise application architecture

Format: CHM

Publisher: addison wesley

Author: Martin Fowler

Download: click to download