Microsoft released first preview of “OSLO” at PDC this year. Oslo is the new platform for model-driven development. Microsoft is warning the development community that Oslo is the future of software development, the hottest trend in the industry.
We’re going to start with an obvious question: what is software modeling anyways? The simplest definition I can think of is: a way to describe a software system, (or even better ‘domain’). What is a model? A description of a domain. Whiteboard diagrams, napkin drawings, class diagrams, sequence diagrams - if you use them, you’re modeling. HTML/CSS/XAML are few examples of modeling a domain - UI in this case. You write HTML/CSS code so a runtime will know what and how to display the information. Are you using XML? you keep your application settings in a database? then you’re using a model driven software development.
There are a few common traits in the methods of modeling described above, and in general of any modeling platform: Transparency - which provides a better understanding of the application, Flexibility - faster and less changes to your application (you don’t need to recompile your app when you make a change for example) and Productivity. So what’s the big deal about Oslo? Continue reading…
