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	TABLE OF CONTENTS 2006 Jolt Awards Jolt Hall of Fame Books General Books Technical Enterprise Project Management Database Engines and Data Tools Defect Tracking, Change, and Configuration Management Design Tools and Modeling Development Environments Libraries, Frameworks, and Components Mobile Development Tools Quality and Project Management Security Tools Testing Tools Utilities Web Development Tools

Design Tools and Modeling

Lattix LDM 2.0
Lattix (www.lattix.com)

Every now and then, a development tool comes along that provides new insight into how we can build better software. Lattix LDM is such a tool. Too often we simply depend upon experience to evaluate a system's design for organization, structure, layering, and other attributes that indicate the architectural quality. Lattix LDM 2.0 is an easy-to-use tool that provides empirical information, giving us new ways to evaluate software systems.

Lattix LDM uses a dependency-matrix approach to obtain information about an application. It displays the matrix and lets users conceptually reorganize the layers and packaging structure. Such information lets designers pose "what if" queries. Continual monitoring of an application for structural deterioration is also enabled; thereby allowing remedial action to be taken before the problem escalates to a major maintenance problem. Lattix LDM supports Java and C++ and integrates nicely with the Eclipse platform.

—Gary Pollice

Productivity Award Winners

Borland Together 2006 for Eclipse
Borland (www.borland.com/us/products/together)

Any Eclipse-enabled software architect that aspires to world-class software design quality should have Together as a default feature in the IDE. Some of the more notable features in the 2006 release include UML 2 and Business Process Execution Language with Web Services definitions (BPEL4WS) support, Model Driven Architecture enabled Query View Transformations, and Object Constraint Language 2.0 definition capabilities.

—Mike Riley

Enterprise Architect 6.0
Sparx Systems (www.sparxsystems.com)

Enterprise Architect is a favorite tool among people looking for a low-cost yet useful UML-based modeling tool for .NET and J2EE. EA goes beyond the UML to support business process modeling and data modeling—you can actually build business applications. It supports a wide range of test case definition (unit, integration, system, acceptance, and scenario) for a test-driven design (TDD) development.

—Scott W. Ambler

MindManager Pro 6.0
Mindjet (www.mindjet.com)

I first saw Mindjet's MindManager in action when Glenn Ferrell used it to formulate a strategic action plan. I watched him map what appeared to be a jumbled mash of disparate ideas to a cohesive action plan in minutes. Release 6.0 takes what is a terrific brainstorming design tool to one that stays in the process longer downstream by incorporating Microsoft's Office Suite.

—Mike Riley

Previous Page | 1 2006 Jolt Awards | 2 Jolt Hall of Fame | 3 Books General | 4 Books Technical | 5 Enterprise Project Management | 6 Database Engines and Data Tools | 7 Defect Tracking, Change, and Configuration Management | 8 Design Tools and Modeling | 9 Development Environments | 10 Libraries, Frameworks, and Components | 11 Mobile Development Tools | 12 Quality and Project Management | 13 Security Tools | 14 Testing Tools | 15 Utilities | 16 Web Development Tools Next Page

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