PATTERN LANGUAGE

Modeling, Managing, Making it Right.

December 2006

According to a recent report published by market research firm Venture Development Corporation (VDC), more developers are expecting to adopt Model-Driven Development (MDD) approaches -- including UML -- over the next two years to cope with the complexity and an increase in the lines of software code per device in embedded software and systems.

However, in the report, entitled "Embedded System Design Automation and Simulation Tools", VDC says that increased adoption of software modeling tools has not translated into equivalent increases in commercial market revenue to the degree that VDC had previously anticipated. VDC suspects that a number of factors, including the availability of low-priced UML modeling tools, have impacted the growth of the commercial market for software-modeling tools.

VDC expects continued adoption of MDD tools, as the benefit of modeling complex systems helps developers to organize and manage complex software and system development. These tools currently see the most use in the early phases of the design process. However, as adoption increases and leading suppliers continue to advance their solutions to drive modeling environments to the center of the development process, VDC expects additional users to more readily acquire additional tool extensions with increasingly sophisticated capabilities.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 03:40 PM  Permalink |

The OMG and the UML Technology Institute (UTI) have announced the launch of the OMG Certified Real-time Embedded Specialist (OCRES) certification program.

Designed for architects, developers, and programmers worldwide, OCRES measures and certifies knowledge of the real-time and embedded systems industry. Based on the OMG Certified UML Professional (OCU) exam series, OMG developed the exams in a joint effort with UTI, building on the real-time and embedded expertise of OMG's membership including the co-chairs of the OMG Task Forces that adopted the specifications, authors of the specifications, and other recognized authorities in real-time and embedded computing. UTI adminsters the program in Japan, China, and other parts of Asia, while the OMG administers it in the U.S., Europe, and the rest of the world.

"UTI is proud to be working at the leading edge of the critically important fields of real-time and embedded systems, and the launch of the OCRES certification program with OMG marks a major new advance in the growth of this exciting field. The support of key users in the Japanese manufacturing industries and our many partner companies has been important in the launch of this new program, and we expect a large number of participants throughout the world. The need for international standards of software quality for manufacturing and other embedded systems is central to product quality here in Japan, in the Asia-Pacific region and throughout the world," said UTI president Toshiyuki Ikari.

For more information about the exams, including free downloads of all the specifications referenced in the exams, and links to find a Prometric testing site are available.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 01:14 PM  Permalink |

IASA, the International Association of Software Architects, has launched a revamped web site at www.iasahome.org.

IASA switched its platform to Liferay 4.1, an open source portal and content management system. Liferay 4.1 lets each of the IASA chapters and virtual communities to have their own individualized web site as a part of a broader IASA network. IASA can now provide new services for members such as a job board, online training, webcasts, and virtual communities.

The International Association of Software Architects is a world-wide organization for recognized professional IT-architects or those wishing to become recognized professional IT-architects. IASA is a vendor agnostic, non-profit organization focused on defining and supporting the professional duties of IT architects.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 12:40 PM  Permalink |

The thing about PowerPoint slide presentations is that they can give you the wheat, but not the chaff. The tip, but not the iceberg. And that's okay. That's certainly the case with John Klein's presentation "Architecture and Design" which he presented this fall as a guest lecture for a computer science class at Tufts University.

Klein, who is Director of Architecture and Technology for the Unified Communications Division at Avaya, provides a good overview for the novice on what Software Architecture is all about. Reading through his slides, I almost wish I was back in school -- almost -- and that all lectures would be as good as Klein's probably was.

On the front end, he deals with definition, and on the back end he shares references. In between, he covers the requisite abstraction layers and separation of concerns, then puts them together to create an information-hiding module structure.

It's worth taking a few minutes to review Klein's slides, just as a reminder if nothing else.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 04:30 PM  Permalink |