> Well, generating Perl should be possible then. I think the approach > of embedding the description (UML or Rocco's notation) in the Perl > code is better. There are tools that try to generate UML from code, but > this is hard, and probably impossible for Perl code. Additionally, > POE does want to work with this valuable information (transactions, ...). I wasn't really thinking of generating perl from Dia's XML, but it might not be such a crime for generating skeleton code for the libraries. I haven't really enjoyed any auto-generated perl code to this point in my career (glade-perl). It has always been clunky to me, but I often use it anyways.
> What I'd be interested in is how you think about UML. I assume you know > at least parts of it. Could you answer some of these questions, please: > > Was it hard to learn? (at least class diagrams) No. In fact, Dia's interface makes it relatively easy to work in UML without knowing much about it. I did buy the UML book that was written by it's 3 designers. It does a good job of covering the basics with *lots* of examples (the truly useful part). http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201571684/qid=1028909548/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-3173673-2535805 > Is it useful? I found it useful for visualizing some of my designs, although they weren't overly complex. Rocco has seen some of my code ;) It was useful to use the "State Machine" style of diagramming when creating my latest POE application. I don't think UML is anywhere near as useful to perl developers as it is to Java or C++ developers. > Do you think that it can handle most of the things we would want to specify > for POE? UML can handle it, although it may not represent it as well as one might expect. If the designer has a firm grasp of how to use the various forms of UML, it may actually be perfect. It is very likely that my lack of confidence in UML is due to my lack of experience/expertise. > Do you think that using it as the (main) notation would help POE and what > would other people think? I think it would be nice to help people understand POE. Some people think better visually, and others not. In other words, using UML for diagramming patterns and structures within POE would be awesome. Some semi-difficult ideas can be presented in a standard way that can be understood by any yahoo on the web without having one of the POE team standing over their shoulder. Note that I think creating a custom description language/format within POE would likely be much more efficient than using UML. I don't remember seeing any UML-type modules on CPAN. Although, the XML modules are quite nice - I've used XML::Parser::PerlSAX a few times and it's event-based parsing style should be right at home with people used to POE. Perhaps XML is what you want ... > Thanks. The claim that a quite a few people know at least the basics might > only be right in my part of the world. And the current POE users should > benefit from the chosen way. I think anybody with an average IQ should be able to glean some information from a nicely drawn UML diagram. An above-average person should be able to extract quite a bit of information from one. The only reason _I_ use UML is so that other developers can expect a standard way of diagramming concepts instead of some spawn of my own warped view of the world. > Comments from other readers would be helpful as well , thanks. > > > torvald ******************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the Priority Health Information Services Department at (616) 942-0954. ********************************************************************
