Free/Open Source UML Tool?

[Robert Paris]

I need a free open source UML tool that will translate my Java code into models. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Max Habibi]

try argoUML
M

[Ilja Preuss]

What do you need those "models" for?

[Sean Sullivan]

Open source:
http://www.argouml.org/
http://perfekt.sourceforge.net/
http://horstmann.com/violet
Commercial:
http://www.embarcadero.com/products/describe/index.asp
http://www.rational.com/products/rose/index.jsp
http://www.rational.com/products/xde/index.jsp
http://www.magicdraw.com/
http://www.togethersoft.com/

See also:
http://jinx.swiki.net/250

[Axel Janssen]

@Robert: Someone here proposed magicdraw from www.magicdraw.com. Its a commercial tool, but evaluation copy of enterprise version expires on 1.12.2003 which is lot of time. It looks pretty decent.
@Ilja: for my current situation those tools might make sense for:
a) communicating my design ideas with someone working on similar problems in Austria I know from newsgroup (too far away to meet in real life).
b) to have an overview over all project classes/interfaces in 1 sheet (ok, those outlines in eclipse/netbeans might serve the same purpose, but it would be less clicks).
[ August 23, 2003: Message edited by: Axel Janssen ]

[Stan James]

If the question about why do you need models can be raised to why do you need documentation, see this excerpt from SEI on Architecture Documentation. There is also a link to the original. I think even the most agile team might have one or two of these needs for a model now and then.

[Rufus BugleWeed]

If I read correctly a non-commercial lic. to visual paradigm is but $10 for a CD. Has anyone tried it?
TIA

[Lasse Koskela]

The Visual Paradigm Community Edition is a free download (approx. 80 megs).

[Ilja Preuss]

Originally posted by Stan James:
I think even the most agile team might have one or two of these needs for a model now and then.

Yes, of course. Still, what tool will work best heavily depends on what you need the models for. That's why I asked.
In the rare cases where I want to use a program to draw those models, I most often prefer more general drawing programs like Visio over the typical UML tools. The latter are often just too constraining.
[ August 25, 2003: Message edited by: Ilja Preuss ]

[Robert Paris]

Thanks for all the replies so far. A couple things and questions:
1. I need the tool because I have inherited someone's code (Java code) and I want to build class diagrams and hopefully sequence diagrams if possible from them to better understand the code.
Question: Can you guys give reviews of the ones you have actually used? Thanks!

[Lasse Koskela]

I have only re-engineered code using Rose (I was also looking for a better understanding of a given piece of sh... software) and that wasn't exactly a walk in the park. Rose handled the task otherwise well but the resulting model(s) were so complex/big that I spent several hours removing the extra I wasn't interested of.

[Stan James]

Yup, I agree with that one. Reverse engineering from code to diagrams is likely to be way messy. I often draw sequence diagrams while reading code - very rough pencil & paper stuff, just enough to express major relationships and responsibilities.
Ilja - sorry, that earlier post was more provocative than intended. The "agile crowd" sometimes jumps all over people when they suggest a persistent model - say something saved in a tool. They forget that being agile does not prohibit modeling artifacts, just recommends you verify the value before putting any time into one. So just for balance I jump all over people who want to get along with zero documentation. Ilja wasn't actully saying that of course. Sorry again.

[Ilja Preuss]

Originally posted by Stan James:
Yup, I agree with that one. Reverse engineering from code to diagrams is likely to be way messy. I often draw sequence diagrams while reading code - very rough pencil & paper stuff, just enough to express major relationships and responsibilities.

I wholeheartedly agree. Automatically generated diagrams are most often nearly as complex as the code itself. I also suspect that actually the activity of drawing the diagram is of more help than the final diagram itself...

Ilja - sorry, that earlier post was more provocative than intended. The "agile crowd" sometimes jumps all over people when they suggest a persistent model - say something saved in a tool. They forget that being agile does not prohibit modeling artifacts, just recommends you verify the value before putting any time into one. So just for balance I jump all over people who want to get along with zero documentation. Ilja wasn't actully saying that of course. Sorry again.

No problem! After all, it gave me the occasion to clarify my point.