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Re: XML publishing frameworks and software methodologies

• To: dulino@o..., xml-dev@l...
• Subject: Re: XML publishing frameworks and software methodologies
• From: David Tolpin <dvd@d...>
• Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 16:47:08 +0400 (AMT)
• In-reply-to: <c12afn$un4$1@s...>

>
> As I complete my masters, I am taking a course on software methodologies 
> and I am arriving to conclusion that the traditional drawbacks of 
> use-case driven development have little application to XML publishing 
> frameworks, especially Cocoon.
>
> Here is why.
>
> The problem with use-case driven development is that very little focus 
> is placed on the architecture of the application, forcing developers to 
> deliver functionality and resulting in unmaintainable complex code.

These are not drawbacks of use-case driven development. These are drawbacks
of badly taught software methodology. 

1) Use cases are not the only tool, it is one of many used simultaneously.

2) Use cases are as helpful and successful in architectural design as
in behavioral requirements. They just have different actors and systems.

That said, Cocoon does not differ from any other framework. There is a framework
that should be followed, there are architectural decisions within the limits
of the framework, and the very fact that the framework dictated by Cocoon
is inflexible and narrow-minded does not mean by itself that there is no
space for architectural decisions.

Whether one develops a new OS for a new hardware or a stylesheet to add custom
colors to an existing web page, one has to evaluate the system, discover
requirements and make architectural decisions. Writing use cases is one useful
technique among many others that should be used in its place for each of the
steps, and for each of the steps it should be used differently.

Functional description is not 'better' or 'worse' than declarative.
It is not 'more' or 'less' suitable for different tasks. It is just
used together with other technologies and takes different forms in
different steps and applications.

David Tolpin
http://davidashen.net/

• References:
  • XML publishing frameworks and software methodologies
    • From: Oleg Dulin <dulino@o...>

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