Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Languages: Why Java is Not Suitable for Object-Oriented Frameworks

With Java the language of choice for most enterprise frameworks today, its inflexibility is always a source of frustration to former Smalltalkers. Here is a short paper on some of the reasons why.

Why Java is Not Suitable for Object-Oriented Frameworks
Dragos A. Manolescu and Adrian E. Kunzle

ABSTRACT
Many business applications involve Java and object-oriented frameworks. Several characteristics of Java conflict with some key features of frameworks. These conflicts force the creation of “work-arounds” by developers. We show several examples that illustrate the tensions that exist between Java and object-oriented frameworks, and discuss how we solved them.

Thursday, December 18, 2003

UML Distilled: Third Edition and Still the Best


Martin Fowler (2003) UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modeling Language, Third Edition. Addison-Wesley.

Martin has an errata page for this book and a blog which might be of interest.

"What can a UML expert familiar with the arcane minutiae of the specification learn from Martin's distillation of UML 2.0? Quite a bit, as can you. To start with, Martin adroitly reduces a large and complex language into a pragmatic subset that he has proven effective in his practice. he has resisted the easy route of tacking on additional pages to the last edition of his book. As the language has grown, Martin has kept true to his goal of seeking the "fraction of UML that is most useful: and telling you just that. The fraction he refers to is the mythical 20 percent of UML that helps you do 80 percent of your work. Capturing and taming this elusive beast is no mean accomplishment!" Cris Kobryn