Umple: A framework for Model Driven Development of Object-Oriented Systems

Huge benefits are gained when Model Driven Engineering are adopted to develop software systems. However, it remains a challenge for software modelers to embrace the MDE approach. In this paper, we present Umple, a framework for Model Driven Development in Object-Oriented Systems that can be used to generate entire software systems (Model Driven Forward Engineering) or to recover the models from existing software systems (Model Driven Reverse Engineering). Umple models are written using a friendly human-readable modeling notation seamlessly integrated with algorithmic code. In other words, we present a model-is-the-code approach, where developers are more likely to maintain and evolve the code as the system matures simply by the fact that both model and code are integrated as aspects of the same system. Finally, we demonstrate how the framework can be used to elaborate on solutions supporting different scenarios such as software modernization and program comprehension.