Is UML Used In Industry?

Question

Developers,
I have read several books on UML and software engineering priniples including OReilly and Fowler books.
Now what i would like to know is has anyone designed a program where they did all these fancy picyures BEFORE starting writing code. You see i propose that all this UML stuff is just academia trying to be rigorous. It is my experience that people dont bother with UML because it is a waste of time. Those companies that require these diagrams normally get them after the project is implemented and thus do not contribute whatsoever to the software design of the project. At least that is my experience.
But hang on a minute. I agree that use cases are important but i dont agree that class diagrams, colloboration diagrams etc are useful.
You see when you write code you begin coding and then realsie that method you have just written needs an extra parameter and so have to make that modification-does that mean each modification has to be mirrrored in your class diagram.
I propose that you cannot draw an accurate class diagram with all the methods and parameters in such a way so as to help you with your software design. And i havent even complained about how you get this information on a one sized A4 sheet of paper without using point 4 font.
This approach might lead to spagheti code but on the whole for people working on their own, it seems to work. I cannot talk about group work but maybe someone else can.
If anyone can prove me worong i'd be interested but also try and post a class diagram which actually does a major task-

Answer 1

Developers,
I have read several books on UML and software
engineering priniples including OReilly and Fowler
books.
Now what i would like to know is has anyone designed a
program where they did all these fancy picyures BEFORE
starting writing code.Yes people do use UML and from my experience in many, although not in every, case they do profit from this aproach
Those companies that
require these diagrams normally get them after the
project is implemented and thus do not contribute
whatsoever to the software design of the project. At
least that is my experience.If they do help to document the system it is still a good thing.
>
But hang on a minute. I agree that use cases are
important but i dont agree that class diagrams,
colloboration diagrams etc are useful. Interesting, I found use case diagrams the least interesting, cause most of the information found in these diagrams, I can just as well put in a piece of prosa or a excel table
You see when you write code you begin coding and then
realsie that method you have just written needs an
extra parameter and so have to make that
modification-does that mean each modification has to
be mirrrored in your class diagram.I have actually done such a thing, in a case when the whole project was about designing an API. And I am sure the developers found glitches and missing parameters, but without UML I had have a hard time to communicate my ideas to developers I never met.
>
I propose that you cannot draw an accurate class
diagram with all the methods and parameters in such a
way so as to help you with your software design. And
i havent even complained about how you get this
information on a one sized A4 sheet of paper without
using point 4 font.If a single diagram doesn't fit on an A4 sheet, paste two together. If this still isn't enough, your diagram probably contains to much for most practical purposes.
>
This approach might lead to spagheti code but on the
whole for people working on their own, it seems to
work. I cannot talk about group work but maybe
someone else can.Yepp if gigantic diagrams keep appearing this is a hint that their is either a case of misusing UML or of bad design ... UML gives you a hint and thereby helps you ... what more can you expect?
If anyone can prove me worong i'd be interested but
also try and post a class diagram which actually does
a major task- Sorry I can't provide you with an example, but I promise, I had tons of sessions with other developers or designers discussing over Class and Object diagrams and it helped a lot. Before UML became widly known we used no proper notation an missunderstandings reduced speed a lot.
I love UML and I think it is a great thing. But I agree with you: It is a tool that can be used in various ways and I seldom found the ways in reality as they are described in textbooks
regards
Spieler