El ESI y el desarrollo guiado por modelos

Hace un tiempo aquí se mencionó al ESI. Quedó entonces pendiente destacar su actividad. Había seleccionado algunos párrafos de la presentación del Instituto acerca de sus áreas de investigación, que quedaron en borrador. Quisiera, un mes después, cerrar el tema.

Notablemente, la presentación no es trivial: en muestra de su compromiso, la portada dedicada a explicar sus actividades en MDD (Model-Driven Development) desarrolla una explicación consisa, rigurosa, e incluso abierta a la discusión de los puntos oscuros o en proceso de discusión. Creo que es más útil para un recién informado, que la propia de la OMG:

Model-driven Development (MDD) is an approach that conceives the software development life-cycle basically as a modelling and model transformation activity. The main concepts behind this idea are:

* Models help users and developers to cope with large and complex systems dealing with high level concepts at the right level of abstraction, which is a powerful aid for improving understanding.
* Model-driven Architecture (MDATM), a modelling specification trademarked by the Object Management Group (OMG), establishes a separation between the Platform Independent Model (PIM) and the Platform Specific Model (PSM). The PIM represents the business logic at a high level, without addressing the issues regarding the technology to be used in the implementation of the system. The PSM is tailored to specify the system in more detail in terms of the implementation technology selected (e.g., EJB, CORBA, .NET, COBOL-CICS-DB2, etc.).
* The focus of development is moved from writing code for a specific platform to developing an effective solution at the business level. Models are used to automate much of the actual coding of applications by generating (parts of) the PSM from the PIM and the actual code from the PSM. Models are used to "drive" the code (and not the other way around), keeping the consistency between the model and what the system actually does.

Pero la presentación añade:

UML, the Unified Modelling Language, a standard also driven by the OMG, plays an important role in MDD as the most common software modelling language currently in use. It is important to point out, however, that although UML is the most likely language to be used for developing models, MDA^TM itself is not restricted to UML, since it simply requires that models are written in a formally-defined language.

Y también

There are risks that MDD may not deliver its promises and become just one more fashionable buzzword. However, there are good reasons to think that MDD and the MDA ^TM initiative of the OMG will be different from the myriad of acronyms that flood the software community:

• The development of MDA^TM is done within the OMG, an open international standard body, which has the largest industry consortium.
• MDA^TM enjoys the strong backing from the software tool vendor community; including Microsoft, IBM and Sun; who support the major standards (UML, XMI, MOF, CWM) that MDA^TM encompasses.
• MDA^TM is not intended to replace previous paradigms, languages or tools, but to harmonise them, allowing everyone to migrate successfully at its own pace.

Particularmente, exponer criterios abiertos como lo son estas últimas dos referencias, hablan de un grupo activo, "con las manos en la masa". Creo que es una excelente idea del polo tecnológico de La Plata el haber establecido contacto con ellos. Aunque el contacto sea en el terreno formal de las evaluaciones de calidad de procesos, indudablemente se abre una puerta nueva.