Edinburgh Branch AGM, followed by "What We Lost When We Stopped Doing UML"

Edinburgh Branch AGM, followed by "What We Lost When We Stopped Doing UML"

BCS Edinburgh Branch Annual General Meeting, followed by talk "What We Lost When We Stopped Doing UML".

By BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

Date and time

Location

Computershare Limited , Edinburgh House

4 North Saint Andrew Street Edinburgh EH2 1HJ United Kingdom

About this event

  • Event lasts 1 hour 45 minutes

SPEAKER

Mike Ritchie

AGENDA

18:00 - Arrival, networking and refreshments

18:15 - BCS Edinburgh Branch Annual General Meeting

18:30 - End of AGM

18:30 - Start of talk "What We Lost When We Stopped Doing UML".

19:30 - Q&A

20:00 - Close

SYNOPSIS

The Unified Modelling Language was born during a period of industry innovation around all things "object".

It was the golden era of object-oriented languages, including Ada, C++, Eiffel, and Smalltalk. UML neither invented nor particularly extended object-oriented ideas, but its history and development are inextricably linked to object-oriented design paradigms.

A few specialised domains still rely heavily on UML. Still, thirty years from its first release, it's rare to find a modern software engineering team routinely using it for systems or software modelling - despite OO design approaches still being prevalent in software design.

What went wrong?

This talk will briefly outline UML's origins - its family tree is more complicated than you might imagine - and the goals of modelling languages in general. We'll explore some of the factors that slowed the adoption of UML and the advances in technologies and engineering practices that have either replaced or significantly reduced the need for structured systems modelling.

Finally, we'll ask whether it still has a place in modern software engineering and whether some of UML's positive aspects—there are some—have slipped between the cracks. Many who worked in software engineering during the period of UML's emergence, if asked the question,

"What did we lose when we stopped using UML?" would quickly reply, "Absolutely nothing". Well, let's see.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Mike has spent forty years in the tech industry, solving tricky problems in medical imaging, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, logistics, and many other sectors.

In 1995, someone hired him to develop a system that counted the number of toilet rolls in a warehouse, a career-high that he has yet to equal, let alone surpass.

Over that long career, Mike has been called a software engineer, a software architect, a technical lead, an engineering manager, and - by some - a mentor. These days, he helps companies with technical and organisational challenges, systems architecture, and skills development in technical teams.

Our events are for adults aged 16 years and over.

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https://www.bcs.org/membership/events

Please note, if you have any accessibility needs, please let us know via groups@bcs.uk and we’ll work with you to make suitable arrangements. Image by Alexandre Schrammel

For overseas delegates who wish to attend the event, please note that BCS does not issue invitation letters.

THIS EVENT IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Edinburgh Branch

Visit https://edinburgh.bcs.org/

Organised by

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