Which are your favorite UML tools?

[Anastasios Hatzis]

On Friday 27 April 2007 23:48, Bruno Desthuilliers wrote:
> Anastasios Hatzis a écrit :
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm working on the light-weight MDA tool pyswarm,
> > http://pyswarm.sourceforge.net/ (it is about a code-generator for
> > Python/PostgreSQL-based software. I plan to add support of UML CASE tools
> > other than the one supported currently.
> >
> > I would like to learn which UML tools you use (if any),
>
> Any piece of paper and anything that can be used to write on it.

Maybe importing paper-based UML into a MDA tool would be easier than the XMI 
interoperability nightmare I'm facing ;)
>
> > preferrably if it
> > comes to modeling a Python application.
>
> I stll wait for UML to be able to describe common hi-level dynamic
> languages idioms and patterns without requiring more space and time than
>   source code.

Do you have an example for what you mean? As I understand Python itself is 
already pretty abstract compared to other languages and platforms where UML 
and also MDA are -for good reasons- popular. I think it depends on the 
complexity of a Python software if it would be worth to add another 
abstraction layer. UML and especially MDA are adding their own complexity 
which has to be compensated by the benefits of the additional abstraction.

BTW, I don't know if UML is the appropriate notation (or model level) to 
describe high level dynamic languages' idioms and patterns. Two days ago I 
learned of a research project that uses Essential Meta Object Facility (MOF 
is the meta-meta model of UML) to model their own Python language with 
extensions or modifications of regular Python to build domain specific 
languages. Modules in these special Python dialects can be compiled and 
executed by a normal Python interpreter. I was pretty impressed although I 
didn't understand all the details how it works. These things are beyound my 
current skills. :)

Best regards,
Anastasios