MBA (a division of USKO Ltd.) the official distributors for Sterling Software`s ADD (Applications Development Division), in South Africa, announced the introduction of a new modeling tool for component specification and architecture design, called COOL:Spex. The tool will be commercially available from MBA in March. COOL:Spex is part of the COOL Product Suite, a set of advanced, enterprise modeling, design and construction tools used for Component Based Development. COOL:Spex is the first tool in its class to allow developers to identify and specify business level components, using interfaces, for successful assembly into Enterprise-scale CBD solutions. By modeling the component specifications at the outset developers can clearly analyze and communicate what the component must do, while remaining flexible about how the specification will be implemented. Clear communication means the right components will be assembled into applications that fulfill the needs of the business. Flexibility means that the components are reusable in multiple implementation technologies and easier to maintain. Today, interfaces play an integral part in many different levels of the component-based development world. Interfaces lie at the core of infrastructure components like COM and CORBA. At the programming language level, most prominently with Java, interfaces are one of its most important features. The power of Java interfaces lies in separating what an object can do, from the definition of how it does it. Sterling Software believes that interfaces are equally important to business level components-and a core principle supported by COOL:Spex is interface-based design. "Interface-based design is a new way of thinking about application development and is critical to success with Enterprise level CBD. We`ve been doing CBD with our customers for several years now, based on this experience we`ve built this new tool to give developers explicit support in CBD, encouraging them to start thinking and working in this way." said Dr. Alan Brown, Director of Research for Sterling Software`s ADD. "It represents the next major step towards our vision of CBD." "The adoption of CBD will be made much easier with this tool," said Lars Hedbom, Method Consultant at Volvo. "At Volvo, we believe in the importance of CBD and have been working with Sterling Software on our CBD projects for the last twelve months - it is great news to see a tool that really supports component specification, especially with support for implementation of the specifications in COOL:Gen." "The days of hand crafting systems are over. In the future we are going to be assembling systems from components that have been built to standards agreed on across the world. ..we`ve got the right tool and a way of building, to get greater productivity and it`s through using the COOL Product Suite and Component Based Development." said Geoff Orrell , director of the newly formed Component Software Factory, created by Old Mutual and USKO. "I`ve heard a lot of enterprise computing stories and seen many CBD enabled tools lately. When it comes to component specification, which Castek believes is the kernel of CBD, COOL:Spex will be a unique product in the market at this time." said Mike Sparling, Chief Technology Officer at Castek Software Factory. "At Castek we specialize in the delivery of strategic business solutions to organizations using components, and we`ve been talking about the need to capture component specifications in this way for the last two years - it`s great to now have a tool that supports this interface-based approach." COOL:Spex represents an important milestone in Sterling Software`s support for CBD. "We are extremely excited about the potential for this technology to significantly impact the way our customers do CBD," said Anna Clepper, Product Manager for COOL:Spex "We`re breaking new ground in the this area and are working closely with our customers and partners to evolve the product and supporting methods. For this reason we have put in place a special program targeting early adopter customers already interested in information-based design and behavior-based analysis. The program includes service offerings focused on introducing this product and approach to the market." The following is a brief description of the functionality available in COOL:Spex: Component Specification Diagrammers COOL:Spex brings to the CBD market new diagrammers purpose built for component specification - a Type Diagrammer, an Interface Diagrammer, and a Type Collaboration Diagrammer. The Type Diagrammer provides visual modeling support for recording the elements of interest in the domain, helping to identify the components in the environment. The Type Diagrammer is also used to define the terms that are common across an interface. The Interface Diagrammer is used to specify the overall behavior of an interface, including the pre and post conditions, which precisely describes the behaviors of each operation. The Type Collaboration Diagrammer provides a way to understand and model the dynamic behavior within a domain, including actions between elements of the domain. COOL:Spex also offers Association Matrix Diagrammers to document component specifications and collaboration refinements. "Emery Worldwide has been using the CBD approach for the past two years. Collaboration and interaction diagramming, provided by the COOL:Spex tool are methods that will help make the concepts visual to the application development teams with whom we work," says Cindy Stoddard, the company`s vice president - information systems. "We are pleased with the general metaphor of COOL:Spex, find it intuitive and believe it will make a major difference for us." CBD Best Practices for COOL:Spex COOL:Spex ships with Advisor, a set of on-line concepts and techniques, development routes/guidelines and best practices to support component-based development when using Sterling Software products. These concepts are based on Catalysis and the CBD experience of Sterling Software and its customers. "These concepts and techniques have been developed with a just-enough philosophy," said Dr. Brown, "Just-enough guidance for the developer to take a pragmatic approach to component modeling techniques and component-based development." New versions of Advisor will be downloadable from the web, allowing for a just-in-time delivery of the most up-to-date news, hints, tips, FAQ`s and guidance on CBD. Reporting and Managing Component Assets COOL:Spex takes advantage of HTML technology for its reporting capability, generating fully customizable reports and ships with standard reports and report templates. The developer is able to understand and manage all aspects of models as well as related documents and project plans using COOL:Spex`s Model Manager. Model Manager allows viewing of multiple data sources including the Sterling Software COOL Products and the Microsoft Repository. Component specifications can be moved to and from the Microsoft Repository - a key enabler of enterprise-level tool interoperability and component reuse. From Specification to Implementation Component specifications may be implemented in the way that best suits the specific component and IT environment. Sterling Software`s COOL Product Suite offers industry leading implementation technologies which work directly with COOL:Spex. COOL:Gen offers an information-based, Rapid Architected Application Development (RAAD) approach to implementation. COOL:Jex offers a behavior-based, Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) implementation option. Publishing the specification in the Microsoft Repository opens the implementation to any UML compliant technology.
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