Enterprise Patterns and MDA: Building Better Software with Archetype Patterns and UML [Paperback]

Jim Arlow (Author), Ila Neustadt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 032111230X | ISBN-13: 978-0321112309 | Publication Date: January 1, 2004 | Edition: 1

This book presents a proven method of successfully addressing the significant challenges of developing applications for the business world. Borrowing from their significant experience in corporate development, the authors present a catalog of proven and supremely useful patterns that can be applied to the idiosyncrasies of the business domain. This book also explains how to use Model-Driven Architecture to increase the efficiency of your designs, and how to further the capabilities of the industry-standard Unified Modeling Language. The result is a practical, no-nonsense approach to building robust business applications that can be immediately applied in a corporate setting.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Praise for Enterprise Patterns and MDA

“I’ve never seen a system of business patterns as detailed as this one. The completeness that Arlow and Neustadt provide in these patterns is impressive. The explanations for why the patterns are formed the way they are and how they’re interconnected are incredibly thorough. The patterns presented here have the potential to impact business applications in the same way the ‘Gang of Four’ patterns have impacted general software development.”

         —Steve Vinoski
             Chief Engineer of Product Innovation
              IONA Technologies

“Enterprise Patterns and MDA is a detailed, yet very readable, guide to designing business applications using reusable model components and Model Driven Architecture. It deserves a place on every application designer’s desk.”

         —Andrew Watson
             Vice President and Technical Director
             Object Management Group, Inc.

“Design patterns are generally acknowledged as an effective approach to developing robust and highly reusable software. Now that Model Driven Architecture is raising software design to ever-higher levels of abstraction, it is only natural that pattern concepts should find application in advanced modeling techniques. With this book, Arlow and Neustadt have greatly advanced the state of the art of MDA by defining both a theory and a methodology for applying the concept of Archetype Patterns to business software modeling.”

         —John Poole
             Distinguished Software Engineer
             Hyperion Solutions Corporation

“The burgeoning field of Model Driven Architecture tools and worldwide support for the Unified Modeling Language are finally being met with high-quality books that explain standard modeling techniques in a way any developer can follow. This book meets an urgent need squarely and clearly, and explains with copious examples a powerful approach to building usable (and reusable!) assets and applications. Every enterprise developer needs this book.”

         —Richard Mark Soley, Ph.D.
            Chairman and CEO
            Object Management Group

This book is a practical guide to applying Model Driven Architecture (MDA) and patterns in order to create business applications more easily. It provides you with a proven catalog of archetype patterns: high-value model components that can be easily incorporated into Unified Modeling Language (UML) models. Each archetype pattern allows you to understand and model a specific part of an enterprise system.

Enterprise Patterns and MDA teaches you how to customize any archetype pattern—such as Customer, Product, and Order—to reflect the idiosyncrasies of your own business environment. Because all the patterns work harmoniously together and have clearly documented relationships to each other, you’ll come away with a host of reusable solutions to common problems in business-software design.

This book shows you how using a pattern or a fragment of a pattern can save you months of work and help you avoid costly errors. You’ll also discover how—when used in literate modeling—patterns can solve the difficult challenge of communicating UML models to broad audiences.

The configurable patterns can be used manually to create executable code. However, the authors draw on their extensive experience to show you how to tap the significant power of MDA and UML for maximum automation. Not surprisingly, the patterns included in this book are highly valuable; a blue-chip company recently valued a similar, but less mature, set of patterns at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Use this practical guide to increase the efficiency of your designs and to create robust business applications that can be applied immediately in a business setting.

About the Author

Jim Arlow has been programming and designing object-oriented software systems since 1990. He has created object models for blue chip companies such as British Airways and M&G. He is a respected OO consultant in Europe and has written and delivered many training courses on object technology and Java. Jim is a regular speaker at conferences such as Object World, and has been an invited speaker at University College London, City University, and the British Computer Society.

Ila Neustadt has worked in IT for British Airways for more than twenty years and has experience of all parts within the IT development life cycle. She worked in the strategy department modeling the architecture process and developing architecture training, and acted as program head for the graduate business analyst program. Ila now coordinates skills development for BA™s IT staff.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 032111230X
• ISBN-13: 978-0321112309
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #881,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable in many ways., August 3, 2004

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Enterprise Patterns and MDA: Building Better Software with Archetype Patterns and UML (Paperback)

Nominally, this book presents "archetype patterns", using UML and an extended case study. The archetype idea, intermediate between a general design pattern and a specific application, is a valuable one. In the case study, it's a set of business meta-objects, operations, and organizing principles. In presenting the archetype abstraction, those objects are spelled out in enough detail to create a useable framework for routine business needs.

The archetype mechanism is also spelled out in great detail, almost wholly within the UML framework. By itself, this won't be enough to convince any UML doubters about UML's flexibility. Taken as one among many UML applications, however, it's very compelling. It's also the first reference I know that gets down to cases in applying MDA - an interesting view. I fault the technique for only two things. First is a slight dependence on a specific CASEproduct, ArcStyler. That reliance never turned all the way into an advertisement, so I'll let it pass. Second is a baffling section on "rules." The rules and rule mechanisms make sense, but inexplicably seem to re-create the features of the OCL.

Two extras make this presentation very attractive. First is the mention of "literate programming," tying the UML tool suite to user documentation and design documentation. They specifically note XML and DocBook, existing standards, as the vehicle for integrating prose and technical parts of the model. Bravo! Even if their LP tools are weak, use of the idea is a real strength. The second extra is a pervasive awareness of standards. Money is phrased in terms of ISO 4217, nations in terms of ISO 3166, books in terms of ISBNs (ISO 2108), and on and on. Far too few programmers realize how many of their software requirements are already spelled out in external standardslike these, so the consciousness-raising exercise is a good one.

This is an excellent resource, not just for its business objects and not just for its UML case study. The author treat even personal names (table 4.4) with more care than I've seen anywhere else - that care pervades the whole book, and is a lesson in itself.

//wiredweird

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great practical material instead of esoteric theory..., June 29, 2004

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Enterprise Patterns and MDA: Building Better Software with Archetype Patterns and UML (Paperback)

Over the last month or so, I've been reading Enterprise Patterns And MDA - Building Better Software With Archetype Patterns And UML by Jim Arlow and Ila Newstadt (Addison-Wesley). This is another one of those books that I thought would deliver one thing and instead produced much more than I expected.

Chapter breakdown: Archetypes and Archetype Patterns; Model Driven Architecture with Archetype Patterns; Literate Modeling; Party Archtype Pattern; PartyRelationship Patter; Customer Relationship Management Pattern; Product Pattern; Inventory Pattern; Order Pattern; Quantity Pattern; Money Pattern; Rule Pattern; Summary; Archetype Glossary; Bibliography; Index

Now, when I requested this for review, I was expecting something in terms of programming patterns and technical material. What I got was a great business tool for modeling typical business objects and transactions. The authors take a business concept like Inventory, and they build a model around it. The model is an archetype, or a entity that exists in some shape in every business. Through UML diagrams, you'll see all the parts that make up the archetype and how to take the parts you need to build your own version of the entity. While the Inventory model is very comprehensive in the book, you can also pull the pieces you need to model the reality that exists in your own business.

There's some very practical benefits you can gain from this book. If you're building an application and need to track a customer (for example), you can turn to the Party model and see all the parts that make up that type of entity. This will help you to understand all the data elements that make up a Party, such as address (web, email, telephone, geographic), organization, person/gender/ethnicity, relationship, etc. These are elements you might think of and/or remember to include, but having the model there helps you get it right early on.

If you're a business analyst, you will really get your value from this book. And if you're a developer who also has to design the systems, you'll look like a wizard when you complete a solid design with features the customer didn't even realize they needed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice resource on your bookshelf, February 8, 2004

By 

Lasse Koskela (Helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Enterprise Patterns and MDA: Building Better Software with Archetype Patterns and UML (Paperback)

"Enterprise Patterns and MDA" is not an MDA book. In fact, the most significant focus of the book is actually patterns, specifically business patterns and archetypes.

The authors start the journey by introducing concepts and techniques such as archetypes (universal, recurring "things") and archetype patterns, and Model Driven Architecture. Furthermore, the authors have dedicated one chapter for describing a technique called Literate modeling (combining traditional visual modeling with an accessible business context provided via a narrative text, for example).

Up to this point (vicinity of page 116), the authors' writing style has been flawless, in my opinion, and easy to read. From chapter 4 onwards, the authors have provided a huge pattern catalog for archetype patterns. The catalog has been divided into chapters around archetypes such as Party, Order, Customer, and so on. Each archetype pattern introduces a business context, a high-level overview model, and descriptions of the related archetypes, their properties and related activities.

I didn't go through even nearly all patterns in the catalog. However, I feel confident that I will dive into the catalog looking for insight when moving to a new problem domain on a new project. Enterprise Patterns and MDA is a nice resource to have on your bookshelf.