CAYN ObjectTeam, information
somewhat old but may be of interest to some
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Design Convergence -- Cayenne tool
reconciles disparate development methods
By Hakhi Alakhun El
The IT industry is struggling to reconcile object-oriented software
development techniques with standard database design. A recent attempt at
integrating those disparate technologies is the Unified Modeling Language,
and some application development software vendors are attempting to exploit
it.
For example, Cayenne Software has been beta testing an update to the
company's UML-compliant mod- eling tool, ObjectTeam 7.1, since
September. Company officials say they are aiming the new release at
companies that need to synchronize development of their object and database
modeling projects. ObjectTeam 7.1 is expected to be available later this
month.
Integrating object and database modeling under a single UML umbrella is the
latest trend among vendors of modeling tools. In September, market leader
Rational Software added support for Oracle 8 object-relational database
modeling to its Rational Rose development system. Other modeling vendors
have since followed suit.
But where Cayenne's ObjectTeam differs is in its complete support for the
latest UML 1.1 specification. The update delivers the full scope of UML 1.1
notation and diagram editors, in- cluding Use Case, Collaboration, Sequence,
Class, and State diagrams, according to company officials. Cayenne claims to
be first in the market with that level of UML support.
The product also beefs up ObjectTeam's reverse-engineering and
code-generation capabilities, delivering universal support for Windows 95
and NT, HP/UX, IBM AIX, Digital Unix, and Sun Solaris platforms.
Previous ObjectTeam releases have stalled in the marketplace, analysts say,
because Cayenne's implementations historically favored high-end technical
markets in the tele- com industry. The new release, firmly grounded in UML
standards, may change that.
"Object modeling is catching on in the commercial space, and we believe it
will be the dominant way of modeling," says Jim Duggan, director of research
of the application development service at Gartner Group Inc. in Stamford,
Conn.
Cayenne's new product offers several other advantages. ObjectTeam's single
code generator will generate both C++ and Visual Basic code, while
Rational's Rose product requires separate generators.
This advantage, coupled with support for integration, could turn out to be
Cayenne's edge. "The more interactive the system," says Gartner Group's
Duggan, "the better suited it is for ObjectTeam."
Copyright (c) 1997 CMP Media Inc. |
