Mailing-List: contact tomcat-dev-help@jakarta.apache.org; run by ezmlm
From: rubys@us.ibm.com
To: tomcat-dev@jakarta.apache.org
Message-ID: <852567B4.00096C11.00@d54mta04.raleigh.ibm.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 21:39:49 -0400
Subject: Re: request for review: server/config discussion
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James Todd <james.todd@end.sun.com> wrote:

>re uml ...
>
>i am by no means mandating uml. i find it very intuitive but
>i a) realize that that is just my opinion and 2) i only utilize
>the aspects of uml (probably less then 5%) that help me to
>understand and convey some design decisions. no one should get
>browny points for being more uml complete ... no way. i did
>feel that i would like to offer a bit of my life experiences
>in some of the tricks in my bag. i'd like to hear other folks
>perspectives. uml to me is similiar to hieroglyphs in that i
>find meaning (not all meaning) can often (not always) be
>conveyed to folks with a varied background (technically or
>not) and language of choice (doesn't have to be english only).
>i also find it is easier to rev glyphs vs rev docs (which
>tend to bury and stagnate the best of ideas). my humble
>perspective anyways.

As merely another data point, I too find UML helpful, with one caveat.  Unless
careful, these diagrams have a tendency to become what I will call "portraits".
In other words, pretty wall hangings that captured the state of the subject at
some discrete point in time.

Unless, of course, some key aspect of the system itself is produced in an
automated manner from the UML specification.

Applying this lesson to the case in hand, we need something which connects the
dots:

  UML -> ... -> DTD

Hence, my suggestion that XMI be considered.  Not for end users (who will only
see HTML and JSP), or even for system administrators (which will see their
choice of either a configuration tool or the DTD), but for people who would
likely subscribe to this mailing list.

</soapbox>  (Error: unmatched XML element!)