Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I need to give a bit of balance to the previous reviews. I basically like the book, but it is a mixed bag and could be a lot better in certain areas. If you expect a start to finish tutorial, you will be disappointed because some background material is presented out of order and you really should read some of his cited references beforehand. For example he discusses the dynamic instance capability in EMF using a mindmap DSL, but doesn't introduce the mindmap DSL itself, until a little later. Also, it will help to have some familiarity with EMF as the coverage in chapter 3 can be followed but is a bit thin and EMF and ecore are purposefully not intended to duplicate the EMF book. The book's usefulness to you will depend upon where you are in MDD and how you want to use MDD and DSLs. The eclipse modeling project is and will undergo rapid change and this book appears somewhat rushed and rough in spots. His second edition when it comes out should be really better organizationally as the Eclipse Modeling projects mature. For example,Chapter 5 on Xtext and TCS is basically a mild description with no example content because that area was not mature at publication. The examples in Chapter 14 on the Xpand template language are in my view a bit skimpy and simplistic for folks wanting to do serious scripting. Similarly if you want to learn QVT, section 13.6 on library operations provides syntax but little to no examples, but the discussion in section 13.5.3 on the shorthand notation used in imperative iterate expressions is really helpful in understanding QVT syntax in the examples presented elsewhere in the book--like chapter 6. Therefore to get the most out of this book, you will be hopping around and be doing multiple reads and passes until it makes sense to you. Don't give up. Do buy the book if you're interested in MDD and DSLs. Gronback has done a nice job developing a mindmap and requirements DSLs that he uses in chapter 6 on model to model transformations. Although you'll need to get comfortable with the QVT and OCL, try running the examples yourself--typing them in to get used to the syntax. His view of MDA at Eclipse in Appendix B is spot on accurate, and I hope OMG takes his advice. If you are interested in graphical model development for your DSL, then Gronback offers strong support for that in Chapter 4 and Chapters 9 through 12. This is no surprise as Gronback is the project lead for GMF. However if you are interested in model to model transformations, QVT, and model to text, and OCL you will be disappointed if you are a beginner requiring step-by-step explanations of the QVT code. Also, don't give up when you reach section 3.2.4 on applying OCL. If you're new to OCL and ecore Eannotations, this will be a rough spot. Finally if you're put off by the price, I'd recommend taking a look at downloading all the OpenArchitectureware tutorials. They are a little stale wrt the later Eclipse Modeling releases, but still helpful and free!
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Achieve Breakthrough Productivity and Quality with MDD and Eclipse-Based DSLsDomain-specific languages (DSLs) and model-driven development (MDD) offer software engineers powerful new ways to improve productivity, enhance quality, and insulate systems from rapid technological change. Now, there's a pragmatic, start-to-finish guide to creating DSLs and using MDD techniques with the powerful open source Eclipse platform. In Eclipse Modeling Project, Richard C. Gronback illuminates both the principles and techniques software professionals need to master, offering insights that will be invaluable to developers working with any tool or platform.As coleader of the Eclipse Modeling Project, Gronback is singularly well-positioned to demonstrate DSLs and MDD at work in Eclipse. Gronback systematically introduces each of the Eclipse technologies that can be used in DSL and MDD development. Throughout, he introduces key concepts and technologies in the context of a complete worked example and presents new best practices and never-before published techniques. He also covers Eclipse projects discussed in no other book, including Query/View/Transformation (QVT) and the Graphical Modeling Framework (GMF)–a project the author personally leads. Eclipse Modeling Project gives software practitioners all the knowledge they need to explore the remarkable potential of DSLs and MDD–and includes coverage of Why a model-based approach enables the rapid customization of high-quality solutions within the product line paradigm
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