Re: [vhdl-200x] Question on provision of UML tool with P1076c

Peter et al,

I think this is the sensible solution - the only thing that slightly 
bothers me is "bit rot". If MagicDraw were to disappear, we might have 
the reader, but in n years time, we might find that it doesn't run under 
any current OS. I'm sure we've all been there, but I can't think of an 
alternative.

Mark

Peter Ashenden wrote:
> Daniel,
> 
> The MagicDraw Reader is available free of charge from the vendor's website
> (www.magicdraw.com). The Reader (as its name implies) just opens the UML
> model read-only, but it allows you to navigate and search quite nicely. The
> vendor also provides a free Community edition that lets you edit the class
> diagrams. Beyond that, you can pay for verious personal and enterprise
> editions with more functionality for other UML diagrams. However, given that
> we only include class diagrams in the VHPI information model, the Community
> edition is probably sufficient for 99% of what people would want to do.
> 
> The information model is provided in the standard in XMI format. XMI is a
> standard XML representation of the model's structure, and should be readable
> with other UML tools. The problem is that XMI does not specify
> representation of the graphical layout of the class diagrams. That's handled
> as a vendor-specific extension, and so is not likely to be readable by other
> tools. When we developed the information model, there was no standard for
> the graphical representation. So having a freely available reader, together
> with facility to generate a web-browsable representation of the graphics,
> was a stong motivation behind choosing MagicDraw.
> 
> I think your suggestion to archive the current distributions of the tools as
> an insurance policy makes good sense. We might suggest to the IEEE that they
> do so, even if they don't currently make the distributions available for
> download. I'll see if they are interested in doing that.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> PA
> 
> --
> Dr. Peter J. Ashenden         peter@ashenden.com.au
> Ashenden Designs Pty. Ltd.    www.ashenden.com.au
> PO Box 640                    VoIP: sip://0871270078@sip.internode.on.net
> Stirling, SA 5152             Phone: +61 8 7127 0078
> Australia                     Mobile: +61 414 70 9106
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Daniel Leu [mailto:daniel_leu@inicore.com] 
>> Sent: Wednesday, 9 May 2007 8:54 AM
>> To: Peter Ashenden
>> Subject: Re: [vhdl-200x] Question on provision of UML tool with P1076c
>>
>>
>> Hello Peter,
>>
>>> Second, they have concerns about distributing a commercial product.
>>> The
>>> issue is not one of permission, which has been given by the tool  
>>> supplier.
>>> Rather, they are concerned about being perceived as endorsing a  
>>> particular
>>> product. Our rationale for including the tool with the standard is  
>>> that
>>> doing so mitigates the risk of future versions not being 
>> compatible  
>>> with the
>>> form in which we publish the information model, and the 
>> risk of the  
>>> tool
>>> supplier withdrawing the tool or going bust. None of these 
>> is likely.
>>> However, as a wise man once said, confidence is that glowing  
>>> feeling you get
>>> just before falling flat on your face!
>> I don't think that this is an issue as long as the 'reader' is  
>> available free of charge. Is the data format compatible with other  
>> tools? Ideally would be to have the data files available in an open  
>> format that is supported by several tools. I have no idea if such a  
>> thing exist for UML tools.
>>
>>> The alternative proposed by the IEEE editor is to include a link to
>>> the tool
>>> supplier's website, so that people can download the tool for  
>>> themselves. The
>>> link would would be accompanied by a statement that IEEE does not  
>>> endorse
>>> this tool and that users are free to use equivalent tools. Would  
>>> that be
>>> satisfactory?
>> This sounds reasonable to me. Maybe one could archive the tools to  
>> prevent an issue if the original downloads were no longer available.  
>> Then Accellera or eda.org might jump in to host them.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Daniel
>>
> 
> 
> 

-- 
===================================================================
Professor Mark Zwolinski
Electronic System Design Group           Tel. (+44) (0)23 8059 3528
Electronics & Computer Science           Fax. (+44) (0)23 8059 2901
University of Southampton                Email.  mz@ecs.soton.ac.uk
Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK             http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~mz

-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.