UML tools

I use two tools depending on what platform I am on. Under windows I use a student version of Rational Rose. You can find it here I don't think that Rational Rose supports a student version anymore since this is the only place I can find this demo version. Note that this is NOT a warez version, just an old demo version ( since RR doesn't put out demo versions anymore that are not time limited ). This one is limited to 30 classes. It's old but it may suit your needs.

You can also try out Rational Rose's new demo which is limited to 15 days. You can find that here . Although Rational Rose is a very expensive piece of software.

Under linux I use UML Object Modeller For Linux. This is an opensource modeler that is pretty simple to use and does everything that I need. It does crash sometimes but it has a very nice and clean interface.

There are some other Java based ones as well that I have not tried so I cannot comment on them such as ArgoUML


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Andrew


[edited by - acraig on September 26, 2002 11:48:30 AM]

Rational Rose Professional Edition for C++: $2394 (USD)!!!!!!
I was expecting sub-$1000, I''ll try it anyway but it will take a miracle to get it (unless I pay for it out of my own pocket, which is not going to happen)

Heh. I actually thought it was a little more then that, but I guess when converted to $CDN it is . Again it depends on your needs. Rational Rose has a lot of stuff that you may not need nor use. For example, I wouldn''t spend all that money to buy 3dsmax if I was just going to do some icons.

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Andrew

I bought Enterprise Architect[1] today. It''s full featured, they have a trial version and it''s pretty cheap. I paid USD 75 for an academic license for EA Professional.

[1]http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/

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The world holds two classes of men -- intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence. - Abu''l-Ala-Al-Ma''arri (973-1057; Syrian poet)

On Linux, you can try Dia... it''s far from ideal, but you can do most of the simple stuff you need with it.

ilogix makes a product called Rhapsody - I forget how much it cost, but you can download it, and when you register they send you a trial key. It''s gear for embedded development.

ArgoUML has a lot of really neat features, but it runs awfully slow. I use UML Sculptor for simple class diagrams because it's small and super fast.

[edited by - wayfarerx on September 26, 2002 2:29:17 PM]

I really cant bring myself to trust ArgoUML. Once I worked for hours in it, then saved my work. When returning to it a couple of days later, ArgoUML was unable to open its own files.
It''s also very Java-centric.

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The world holds two classes of men -- intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence. - Abu''l-Ala-Al-Ma''arri (973-1057; Syrian poet)

I use a great program called "Enterprise Architect". It''s like $60 for the student version. And it''s actually better than ROSE!!

It''s at http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/

quote:

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Original post by Arild Fines
I really cant bring myself to trust ArgoUML. Once I worked for hours in it, then saved my work. When returning to it a couple of days later, ArgoUML was unable to open its own files.
It's also very Java-centric.

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I had this same problem so I switched to Poseidon for UML. It's based on the ArgoUML source but doesn't have that paticular bug (it will even open Argo-generated files that Argo itself won't). It's still slow as hell though.

[edited by - wayfarerx on September 26, 2002 4:22:49 PM]

quote:

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Original post by damienj
On Linux, you can try Dia... it''s far from ideal, but you can do most of the simple stuff you need with it.

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There''s also a Dia version available for Windows: Win32 Dia Installer

I''m not sure about the cost, but Describe is what we use at work. I''ve used most of the others listed in this thread too..at the moment, I like RR, but that''s probably because that''s what I originally learned on.

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Kevin "Khawk" Hawkins
CEO and News Director, GameDev.net
Software Engineer, Raydon Corporation
Author, OpenGL Game Programming
Developer Diary

Visio Professional includes support for all UML diagrams. You're not just drawing boxes, it's actually maintaining a database of types, classes, methods, etc. We've been using it at work.

[Edit]
One additional note: The 2002 version can "reverse-engineer" C++ code (using the browse file from MSVC++) and generate class diagrams from it. Some of the info is missing but it gets you started if you are trying to model existing code.

[edited by - Kooo on September 28, 2002 6:07:52 PM]

There is also Visual UML. It''s what I use at the moment, but I haven''t used anything else (I''m just learning UML now).

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Just to offer other low-cost alternatives, there are two other tools that I intend to try:

http://www.metamill.com
http://www.gajits.com/ectoset/default.asp


I would''ve gone for Rational Rose, if only it was less expensive. Rational has become the Microsoft equivalent in the world of UML tools - Widely accepted, but insanely expensive (to non-business users).

i''ve got ideogramic uml which is interesting, 14 day unlimited trial, free limited feature version too.

ideogramic.com

ArgoUML is what I use now that the ''stop drawing the screen every so often to piss off the user'' feature seems to be gone.

quote:

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Original post by shaft
I use a great program called "Enterprise Architect". It''s like $60 for the student version. And it''s actually better than ROSE!!

It''s at http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/

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I actually had a friend reccomend this as well so I gave the trial a shot. This program is really cool. I''m only on day 3 of the 30 day trial, but I''m already thinking that in 27 days I''ll be making sparx systems a little bit richer.

Seriously give this one a shot.

I''ve worked with ArgoUML, Poseidon for UML and dia. Here is my opinion of these three.

ArgoUML and Poseidon for UML are both Java-centric and can generate class skeletons. Unfortunately, they can''t generate C++ class skeletons so they''re not really useful unless you just need the diagrams. ArgoUML is open source and Poseidon for UML is commercial, but based on ArgoUML''s source. Both are made in Java and thus run on any platform that can run the JRE 1.3 and over.

dia is a visio-like program that can make UML diagrams. dia by itself cannot generate code skeletons, however there exists a program called dia2code which can generate skeletons in various languages(C, C++, Java and many others). I currently use dia, but it has some troubles with some arrow ends(eg. the arrow tip will not point towards the class, but will sit pointing into another direction while being at the proper end of the association). It is open source and quite stable from my experience. It is available on Linux and Windows, and maybe other platforms too.