[Gllug] the guardian on the attack (again)

[Aaron Trevena]

On 20/12/05, Tethys <sta296 at astradyne.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Aaron Trevena writes:
>
> >Actually UML is bloody useful even without any objects..
> >
> >UML includes not only Class::Diagrams but..
> >use cases (also available in new lo-calory eXtreme Programming flavour
> >under a different name)
> >state diagrams
> >sequence diagrams
> >data flow diagrams
> >
> >which are fundamental to good analysis and design of any nontrivial project
>
> So they teach, these days. However, real world experience generally
> shows that projects run that way tend to end up bloated, bug ridden
> and usually delivered over budget and late.

That is down to project management and lack of actually understanding
and using UML properly.

What kind of sensible alternative do you have?

UML is a well supported, documented and recognised standard - you can
quickly and easily draw a sequence diagram using it -- try clearly
explaining the sequence of a bunch of events using something else to a
bunch of random programmers - most should be able to just read it,
rather than argue and scribble on a white board. Same applies to class
diagrams, etc.

Having a clear way to express how stuff works or is organised or
happens is incredibly useful - the alternative is like giving
directions to somebody along the lines of 'past the post office, left
at bobs shop, right at the owl shaped tree' with everybody chipping in
or disagreeing on whether the left is before or after bobs shop,
whether the tree is owl or squirrel shaped and whether it's the 3rd or
4th left after the roundabout including sideroads or junctions instead
of either a) following the nice standardised sign posts b) using the
nice A-Z map - both of which obviously have their issues but are known
to generally work and unargued.

Cheers,

A.
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