I'm trying to put together a model for system that passes messages between serial ports. I have never done any OO or UML so I'm looking for some advice on where to start,what diagrams I need,or any useful links that can give me a "jump start". Thanks!
Ilja Preuss
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Joined: Jul 11, 2001
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Mary, welcome at the Ranch! I would advice you to care more about learning OO design than UML. UML is just a language for depicting designs - drawing those diagrams won't automagically generate you good designs; in fact I think it will delay important feedback from the code. If you are also new to Java, but have some experience in a procedural language, I would recommend "Thinking in Java" by Bruce Eckels. It now only teaches the syntax of Java, but also basic OO design principles. If you already feel somewhat comfortable with basic OO concepts, like inheritance, encapsulation etc., you could take a look at Robert Martins "Agile Software Development - Principles, Patterns and Practices". Personally, I first groked what OO really is about while reading Martin Fowlers "Refactoring".
The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - it is the light that guides your way. - Heraclitus
By the way, "Thinking in Java" is available online (just google for it), whereas for Bob's and Fowler's books you have to visit the bookstore of your choice...
Robert Martin
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Originally posted by Mary Boss: I'm trying to put together a model for system that passes messages between serial ports. I have never done any OO or UML so I'm looking for some advice on where to start,what diagrams I need,or any useful links that can give me a "jump start". Thanks!
It is a common misconception that models come before code, and drive the code. We like to think that we can forsee the structure of the code before it is written. In reality that structure evolves in ways that we cannot predict without actually writing it. If you have never written code using an OO language, then I advise you not to begin with UML. Instead, begin by writing some OO programs.
---<br />Uncle Bob.
Mary Boss
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Joined: Sep 11, 2003
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Well, the thing is that I do know how to "just write the code" - but, I'm testing a tool that does code generation from the model - that is why I need help with diagrams. I actually want to see how usable code I can get from the model. I'm wandering if it is enough to do class (or object?) and sequence diagram. I'll ignore port settings - I only want to be able to open/close/read/write ports and I'm just not sure what diagrams I need, and what to put in them to "accurately paint the picture".
I agree. Here's the link: http://ej-technologies/jprofiler - if it wasn't for jprofiler, we would need to
run our stuff on 16 servers instead of 3.
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