Hewlett-Packard Fusion
Visual Thought now supports the HP Fusion notation, in use in over fourteen
divisions in Hewlett-Packard and elsewhere.
Graphical examples of the various Fusion diagrams that Visual Thought
supports are provided below. Confluent thanks the Hewlett-Packard Software
Initiative (SWI), which developed these examples and palettes, for
their generous contribution.
The Benefits of Visual Thought
Visual Thought provides several important benefits to anyone thinking
about developing software with Fusion:
- VT gives you a way to create high-quality Fusion diagrams
very easily. If you are currently creating Fusion diagrams with
almost anything else (e.g., CASE tool, FrameMaker, or less), you will
understand what we mean when you try Visual Thought.
- VT is quite inexpensive, especially compared to a typical
CASE tool. It is often possible to outfit an entire development group
with Visual Thought for the price of one CASE tool license. Visual
Thought's low cost doesn't necessarily come at the expense of features,
either. We often hear of organizations buying CASE tools, but then
using only 30% of the features -- that 30% being the diagramming
portion. Visual Thought is optimized for diagramming.
- VT supports other methodologies. Visual Thought allows you to
combine elements of Fusion with other methodologies or even use other
methodologies without Fusion. Because of VT's generality, you can also
leverage your usage of Visual Thought across other applications, such as
technical documentation, network diagramming, or flowcharting.
- Because VT is optimized for diagramming, is inexpensive, and supports
other methodologies, it provides you with a gentle, low-cost,
low-risk access to the benefits of HP Fusion.
About Fusion
The "Fusion" methodology is literally that, a carefully crafted
fusion of the best components of multiple methods, including Booch,
Rumbaugh, and others as well as Objectory, in its latest incarnation.
As posed by Derek Coleman's 1994 book, Fusion covers aspects of
object-oriented analysis (OOA), object-oriented design (OOD), and
implementation. Fusion provides multiple benefits for software
development, specifying a well-defined set of development phases, plus
techniques for identifying, defining, and ensuring consistency between
the deliverables of each phase.
Fusion (1994) appears largely intended for traditional single-process,
sequential software development, but extensions have been developed or are
being developed to adapt Fusion for real-time, distributed computing, and
concurrency. Fusion is also being continually enhanced and evolved by Dr.
Reed Letsinger, Derek Coleman, and others at HP Labs.
For more information on these and other developments in Fusion,
please consult the bibliography below,
or jump to HP Labs' Web site.
For more information about HP's internal consulting arm, the HP Software
Initiative (SWI), please send email to
swi@hpcea.ce.hp.com.
For more information about HP's external Fusion consulting services,
the HP Professional Services Organization (PSO) Object-Oriented Solutions
Center, please contact Confluent
(info@confluent.com)
for an e-mail address.
Bibliography
- Object-Oriented Development: The Fusion Method. D. Coleman, et al.
Prentice Hall, 1994. ISBN 0-13-338823-9.
- Object-Oriented Development At Work: The Fusion Method in the Real
World. R. Letsinger, et al. Prentice Hall. Available 11/95.
- Object-Oriented Technology for Real-Time Systems. M. Awad, et al.
Prentice Hall. Available 11/95.
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