White paper

The title of this white paper can appear somewhat surprising. How can a UML modeling environment  be beneficial to an existing application where no prior model exists?

We already know that modeling environments can generate Java code from a UML model. We have already published an article showing that a model-driven approach can bring significant gains in productivity and quality, through the use of mature modeling tools providing high-performance code/model consistency management services (see "Improve your Java development efficiency with Modelio and UML"). This approach requires that models be designed and built first, before embarking upon Java programming.

And yet a new generation of tool is now freeing developers from this "constraint" (which is how it is seen by many Java developers). It is no longer necessary to first design and build a model, in order to take advantage of the productivity and quality gains that a modeling environment can bring.

This white paper will show how the Modelio modeling environment can enable you to improve existing code, enhance its documentation, and assist in the understanding of the architecture of a Java application. These services constitute a first level of assistance, support and automation, which allow you to go even further with more elaborate use cases, such as the modernization of an application, the reverse documentation and reverse design of an existing application, the analysis of existing application architecture, and so on.