Model-driven development, AJAX shortcomings aired

16.03.2006
Interest in model-driven software development and AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is high, but plenty of room for improvement remains for both technologies, according to speakers and attendees at the SD West 2006 conference on Wednesday.

Separate sessions at the conference focused on the two topics. During one 90-minute session, panelists from companies such as Microsoft, Compuware, and SAP mostly discussed shortcomings of software modeling.

Model-driven development needs to be woven with other technologies such as patterns and frameworks, said Jack Greenfield, software architect for Enterprise Frameworks and Tools and Microsoft.

"I don't believe in high-level models where I push a big red button and it generates a lot of stuff that I'm expected to live with," Greenfield said. He cited CASE as presenting a failed example of this.

But panelist Juha-Pekka Tolvanen, co-president and CEO of MetaCase, countered by saying full code generation from the models is possible.

One issue with modeling is that not everyone knows how to do it, creating a disconnect between those who can and those cannot, said panelist Scott Ambler, a consultant with Ambysoft. "It's no good if only one or two people on our team know how to model and everybody else doesn't have a clue," he said. The definition of modeling should be expanded, however, Ambler said.