Large app development a job for OO A&D tools - object-oriented analysis and design tools for large application development

Software Magazine, Jan, 1994 by Mitch Kramer

Despite some companies' success with object technology, there have not been many commercial applications built with object methodologies. Most of the action has been in scientific, technical and engineering applications.

One reason is that tools vendors have not yet targeted commercial markets, observers note. Both Cadre and IDE have a history of concentrating sales efforts in the technical Case market. Both vendors' marketing strategies are expected to continue in that segment, at least in the short term. "Our expertise is in Ada, C and C . We have no plans for Cobol or any object-oriented 4GL," said Manson of Cadre.

The languages used with object methodologies also deter commercial usage. Dan Devlin, an independent consultant developing a new customer information system for North-west Natural Gas, a Portland, Ore.-based utilities company, is using Rumbaugh, ObjectTeam and C . While Devlin's project is certainly a commercial application, there are not many companies willing to build their operational applications in C . They have long since adopted higher-level languages.

Andersen Consulting's Wolpert and Jim Adamczyk, development director of Andersen's Eagle Technology, attribute the lack of commercial activity to the immaturity of the methodologies and the tools that automate them. "Object methdologies are immature. None address the full application life cycle," said Adamczyk. "Full life-cycle support is necessary to be considered for the commercial market.

"We plan to deliver an object methodology that covers the life cycle in the spring of 1994," he continued. "It will be combination of the best techniques for existing methodologies. Project Eagle [Andersen's methodology] has been an R&D effort for the last two years, looking into methods and techniques. The culmination of Project Eagle is our methodology. Along the way, we've also developed requirements for evaluating methodologies and tools."

Andersen Consulting reports positive experiences using the Jacobson Objectory methodology and its Objectory automation tool. "Jacobson addresses the major requirements for object analysis and object design for large projects," Adamczyk said. "Objectory could be the first tool that is viable for business applications. During early phases of Eagle development, we looked at Objectory. We bought Jacobson's book, then the Objectory tool. We're very positive about the methodology's use cases."

Use cases address application requirements. In them, the application's users--people and other systems--are divided into categories based on the roles they play in the application. The application's functions are then modeled as a complete course of events started by one or more of the actors.

"The focus at Andersen Consulting has always been on business applications," Wolpert said. "Object technology activity is just starting in this area. We plan to be a leader. The methodology will be our start. We will replace our core development process with object analysis and object design techniques. Further on in the life cycle we need higher-level tools. C will have a niche for business applications. There will be a battle between Small-talk and Object Cobol for the commercial market."