UML Design tools- MagicDraw/SmartUML/Jude

What is UML?
In the field of software engineering, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a standardized specification language for object modeling. UML is a general-purpose modeling language that includes a graphical notation used to create an abstract model of a system, referred to as a UML model

Need for good UML design tool

A good Software Design/ artifact is the central point or backbone of any good architectural J2EE application.And gone are the days of using tools like Word,Visio(though it still remains one of the popular choice among some heavy duty Fortune 500 clients)for creating UML diagrams and abstract design document for any n-tier J2EE application.The more business requirements ,the highly complex the architecture will be, what with the IT world turning aggressively towards SOA/BPM/EAI/ESB in the present age and there in lies the challenge for a good designer or architect to come up with a decent design and that too in double quick time,cant blame the companies ,competition is such.So as a architect or designer,instead of spending laborious hours(that was 4-5 years ago) in designing the application,you need to come up with a highly efficient design doc in no time.And taking this into perspective,I browsed through different UML design tools I can use effectively and which help me in coming out with design artifacts with no headache.
So here I would like to introduce some UML design tools(there are many out there) which will be extremely useful for any designer.

MagicDrawUML - Jude-SmartUML-Voilet UML Editor


MagicDraw-I would totally recommend this tool for its vast support and having won the Best Java Modeling Tool ,Best Jolt Productivity tool.Some of its features are UML support,SysML support,UML extensions
Editor operations,Colors and formatting,Teamwork,,Browser,Navigation,Code engineering,Java support,C++ support,NET support,CORBA IDL support,WSDL support,XML support,Database modeling,Save/load,Model Decomposition,Analysis,GUI,Export,IDE Integrations,Model search,Open API,Printing,Localizations,Model Driven Architecture (MDA) Support and others.For further information about this product,http://www.magicdraw.com/

SmartUML-
The very interesting feature of this open source tool is Free-Hand Drawing,I remembered my school days,how my airy fairy thoughts I used to put on my slate(pun intended).This is very easy to use and sleek UML Designer tool and plus being open source will add to its bounty and also can be used on Tablet PC,how that for a designer tool.Some of its features are,
* Pen Interface - Freehand Drawing
* Enhanced mouse mode with behavior prediction
* Introduce symbol automatically at the end of connector
* In-place innovative symbol and connector editor
* Exciting UML symbols that adds life to your diagrams and printouts
For further information go here, http://smartuml.sourceforge.net/ and http://smartuml.sourceforge.net/SmartUML-Presentation.pps

Jude-I must say this is surely one of the best for UML design.See the features list here,JUDE/Professional - a tool that combines UML software development with Mind Map(1) functionality, which will help you to unlock your software design possibilities. JUDE has the functionality to convert Mind Maps to UseCase or Class Diagrams by as simply as dragging and dropping. You can also jump from Mind Maps to UML Diagrams using Hyperlinks.JUDE supports the following basic UML 1.4 diagrams:

* Class (Object/Package/Robustness), UseCase, Sequence, Collaboration,
Statechart Activity, Component and Deployment
* Template Generation of Java Source Files
* Import of Java Source Files
* Automatic Generation of Class Diagrams with Model Information
* Export Java
* Transfer Messages by dragging
* Automatic Return Message Mode
* Change view freely using "Map View"
* Drag scrolling
* Zoom dragging
* Lock files
* Editing model information directly, without opening a dialog box
* Unlimited UNDO/REDO feature
* Various layout adjustment features (position/space/size selection options)
* JUDE API (Class/UseCase/Activity/Sequence)
(*)JUDE also supports object diagrams, package diagrams and robustness diagrams.
For further information go to this website,http://jude.change-vision.com/jude-web/index.html

Please feel free to add your comments which would encourage me in posting more and if you know of any other UML design tool then also let me and others know about it,the more sharing of knowledge the better IT community will be.

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