Hi, thanks for all the questions, and thanks Robert for joining in until I could come on board. I've read the questions and will try to cover the field here.
One challenge of this book was that it doesn't fit into any of the existing categories. So the questions regarding "where does it fit" are quite legitimate. BTW the aspect of a new category its what the publisher and OMG saw when we concieved the book, and is what we are seeing in the the variety of reviews from analysts and on Amazon.
The short answer is: its the first book explaining the "why, and how" of MDA. That's why its in the OMG series, and since there are no books before it on MDA, there was no previous categorie to put it in. However, MDA is just part of the story: I also put a stake in the ground and define the "why, and how" of IT architectural style. I justify and define IT architectural style and then I demonstrate a particular architectural style in use: the Convergent Archticture (CA). Among other things, an architectural style defines its specific automation support: the Architectural IDE. This is where I explain and demonstrate MDA and UML in a concrete tool environment using CRC-modeling, Rose, JBuilder,
ANT and several J2EE/EJB app servers. The point is not just to talk about architectural style and MDA but to also show what it really is in practice, how we automate its support and why this provides us with many high-ROI advantages at diverse levels of design and divelopment.
By popular demand, I've attached (below) the piece from this introduction that explains the chapters in the book. Sorry about the chaotic format due to cut-and-past from my manuscript.
Also, take a look at
www.io-software.com/mda and
www.ConvergentArchitecture.com for some other explanations and comments from others etc.
I'd like to finish here with a couple of quotes and a link that sum up the tenor and purpose of the Convergent Architecture:
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations we can perform without thinking"
- Alfred North Whitehead, Philosopher
"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and change amid order"
- Alfred North Whitehead, Philosopher
and
"Every seven years, we have torn up what has gone before and started again," he says. "There have been eight cycles of 'build and scrap' since 1946. The first cost $100m, equal to 7 per cent of business investment at the time. The last cost $2,000bn, or 47 per cent. The next would have cost $5,000bn but we have run out of money: we have come to the end of history as we know it."
http://www.strassmann.com/ Paul A. Strassmann, former chief information technology executive for General Foods, Kraft, Xerox and the US Department of Defense
FROM THE INTRODUCTION CHAPTER:
==============================
How This Book Is Organized
This book consists of two parts.
Part 1 covers the background, design and usage of the Convergent Architecture including its MDA concepts and its tool support using Rose/UML, JBuilder, and J2EE/EJB application servers.
Part 2 is a hands-on example applying the Convergent Architecture and its Architectural IDE, the Borland Application Server and the WebLogic Application Server.
The book proceeds with increasing levels of detail. The first part begins with the design and justification of IT-architectural style in general and moves on to explain each part of the Convergent Architecture in a logical manner. The coverage of the Convergent Architecture begins with an outline, or roadmap, and then drills down into the specific features of the roadmap. Each subsequent chapter in Part 1 then describes the design and justification of one of these features. It also explains how to apply this feature beginning at the level of individual projects on up to the level of corporate IT organization.
Chapter 1 introduces the concept of architectural style in general and its potential in the IT field. Analogies and examples are used from other industries to explain the significant advantages attainable through an IT-architectural style. It also defines IT-architectural style and its design--its structure, models, principles and relationships--and the application of a style in reality-scale situations.
Chapter 2 provides an overview and roadmap of the Convergent Architecture as an IT-architectural style. It describes how the concepts and design from Chapter 1 are applied in the Convergent Architecture. It also presents the anatomy and the "big picture" of the Convergent Architecture, introducing each stylistic feature and its advantages in real-world projects. Each feature is then detailed in the remaining chapters of the book.
Chapter 3 justifies and defines the Convergent Architecture Metamodel. This top level feature of the Convergent Architecture comprises the long-term vision and fundamental design principles of the architectural style.
Chapter 4 presents the Convergent Component Metamodel as a prime vehicle of the architecture. This is the first of three design models that visibly transport the principles from Chapter 3 into real-world modeling styles, techniques, tools and automated infrastructure mappings. It defines the application of Model-Driven Architecture and an architectural tool suites (the Architectural IDE) in the context of an architectural style.
Chapter 5 outlines the IT-Organization Model and its application of the Rational Unifies Process. This model constitutes a concrete reference frame for the business of building IT systems in the context of an architectural style. It defines the organization, workers, roles, tools and interactions of all stakeholders in the Convergent Architecture.
Chapter 6 presents the Development Process Model which complements the IT-Organization Model. This detailed development process constitutes an applied instance of the Rational Unified Process and its architectural tool support in the context of the architectural style.
Chapter 7 illustrates the integrated architectural tool suite and how it supports the architectural style as defined in Chapters 1 through 6--how it supports the component, organization and process models of the Convergent Architecture. The tool suite, known as an Architectural IDE, is described in detail. The chapter exhibits how the concepts of Model-Driven Architecture and the Convergent Architecture are applied using an available Architectural IDE (ArcStyler) that embeds and drives best-of-breed component tools such as Rational Rose, JBuilder and diverse J2EE/EJB application servers in the context of the architectural style.
Chapter 8 presents the extensive design detail of the modeling styles and the J2EE/EJB technology mappings that were introduced in Chapter 4 and shows how these leveraged by development organizations using the Architectural IDE.
Chapter 9 is a tutorial which applies the concepts of the Convergent Architecture (Chapters 1 through 8) in an end-to-end example using the Architectural IDE. It exhibits each step of the model-driven development process from the initial business design through to the generation, deployment and
test of J2EE/EJB components including their Web services and Web front-ends.
Who Should Read this Book
-------------------------
A variety of readers will be interested in the topic matter covered in this book, each from a different perspective. The following reading sequence is recommended for each respective audience:
�CEO/CIOs and business consultants will find the message regarding IT-architectural style and Convergent Architecture in Chapter 1 through 3 of particular relevance. For the next level of detail, they should proceed to the introductions in Chapter 5, The IT-Organization Model, and Chapter 6, the Development Process Model.
�Chief architects, IT consultants, project managers, lead developers and those interested in the OMG Model Driven Architecture Initiative are the prime audience for the entire book.
�J2EE/EJB developers and Web service developers may want to first read Part II, the tutorial example, to get a hands-on feeling for development process and environment and then move to the chapters explaining the development process (Chapter 6), the Architectural IDE (Chapter 7) and the details on the Modeling Style and Technology Projections (Chapter 8). At some point, Chapter 2 may be important to provide the overall big picture and roadmap of the architectural style.
Tools You Will Need
-------------------
The examples in Part 1 of the book as well as the hands-on tutorial in Part 2 use the following tools to demonstrate the model-driven approach and the integrated architectural environment:
*A J2EE/EJB application server: Borland Application Server, BAS 4.5, available from
www.Borland.com or the WebLogic Server 5.x or 6.x, available from
www.BEA.com *Java IDE: JBuilder or JBuilder Enterprise versions 4 or 5 which includes the BAS app server. Available from
www.Borland.com *UML Modeling Tool: Rose 2001 or 2001A Modeler Edition or higher. Available from
www.Rational.com *Architectural IDE: The ArcStyler Architectural IDE, available from
www.ArcStyler.com ---