2019-08-27 Tuesday - Sparx EA v15 Demo 001 Filtering Diagram Elements with Tagged Property-Value

This is my first demo video for Sparx EA v15 Demo (#001 -  001 Filtering Diagram Elements with Tagged Property-Value)


I've created a playlist on my YouTube channel to organize additional Sparx EA v15 demos I plan to record in the future.
Sparx EA v15 Demos Playlist

2019-08-25 Sunday - Why You May (or, May Not) Wish to Retain My Services

Photo by Sarah Dorweiler on Unsplash
source https://unsplash.com/photos/x2Tmfd1-SgA

You should know: If you prefer to keep things the way they are - you may not wish to engage my services :)

1) I will challenge perspectives - and assumptions. Sometimes, this may make some folks uncomfortable.

2) I will help identify gaps and inefficiencies - and make suggestions for improvements. Sometimes, if needed, pointedly. Although, I will always strive to be considerate and diplomatic. Some folks may find change difficult to digest.

3) I will challenge the status quo. At times, this may be discomforting.

4) I will not turn away from looking under rocks. Some folks may not want this.

5) I will actively work to help change things for the better. Some folks may actively resist this.

6) I insist on dealing from the top of the deck - with everyone (board members, executives, employees, contractors, vendors, partners, customers). Some folks may not be aligned with this.

7) I will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. I am fairly certain - this may not always be well received by some folks.

8) I  will view any project expenditures I may propose - as if it were my own money being spent. You should know, I am a frugal person. I abhor waste. A $1 investment needs to produce a return (however, that return may be expressed in several possible dimensions - not all of which are strictly/directly monetary).

9) I am deeply interested in considering 2nd and 3rd order effects of decisions - considering the enterprise as a patient - that should be diagnosed - and treated - holistically. My perspective can be a positive balancing force with ready-fire-aim cultures - but, it may also create discomfort for some folks.

10) I am very detail oriented. This expresses itself in my work as being thorough. This may be uncomfortable for folks that may not wish to have their areas examined too closely - or who have little interest in root-cause determination.

2019-08-18 Sunday - Git Repository Naming Conventions Research

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

source: https://unsplash.com/photos/FO7bKvgETgQ

I've started drafting a proposed guideline document (consider it as a possible baseline from which to custom your own "Git Repository Naming Conventions" standard). This will be published under an Open Source MIT License.

As part of my research, I've reviewed many articles, discussion threads, and have examined the naming conventions used (explicit, implicit, or derived/implied) for repositories in dozens of well known, high profile, Open Source, github accounts.

If you might be interested in receiving a link to review the preliminary draft - just leave a comment, and I'll send you a private message with the link (targeting by early September).

If you have strong opinions, ideas to contribute - please contact me privately.

I welcome suggestions, review feedback, and additional input - and will be happy to include citing your co-authorship. 

If you know of a non-trivial, publicly published, standard/convention - please share that as well in a comment below.

2019-08-15 Friday - Sparx EA v15, now available

Photo by Cesar Carlevarino Aragon on Unsplash
Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/NL_DF0Klepc

I noted that Sparx EA v15 was officially released on July 27th, 2019

• Release Overview
• https://www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/15/index.html
• Release Notes:
• https://www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/history.html
• v15 User Guide
• https://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/15.0/index/index.html

Some particular improvements that I noted after doing a quick read of the Release Notes:

• Diagrams
• AWS Architecture and Google Cloud Platform technologies updated to improve behavior when dropping an image with the their toolboxes active
• Amazon/AWS and Google/GCP toolboxes now check for imported image library during use
• Amazon/AWS patterns updated
• Added support for web style back navigation when following a hyperlink on a diagram

• Source Directory and Visual Studio Solution Import Updated
• Improved usability for detecting and adding language macros
• Added a 'Dry Run' option to quickly scan for potential issues
• Added an option to compare timestamps of files being imported before performing the import (Currently C++ only)
• Added Package per File option to Solution import

• Code Engineering
• Source Code Directory Import 'Package per File' improved
• Visual Studio Project Import now supports importing as Package per File

• Other Changes
• Error handling for bulk updates over the cloud improved
• Modeled Add-Ins can now be loaded in eap files when JET 4 is disabled

• User Interface
• Element Browser now shows a context menu with Navigation Options for root item
• Traceability window handling for elements with very large numbers of relationships improved

• Dynamic Model Add-Ins
• All behavioral code is written in javascript
• Add-ins can access all Repository based behavior
• Add-ins can respond to repository events (signals)
• Add-ins can set up and use property lists
• Add-ins can call SBPI based API's
• All code is in Javascript
• Defined add-ins can be published to XMI or deployed to a RAS service to allow use across multiple models
• Add-ins can now return "Workflow" in EA_Connect to opt-in to workflow events
• Can model mail users when state changes

• Javascript engine updated
• Built-in javascript support updated to use the Mozilla Spidermonkey 63
• Provides new functions such as JSON parsing

• Simple Drawing Style
• Introducing a new diagram drawing style that will make it easy to draw flat and simplistic diagrams
• Similar to Visio style drawings

• Diagram Alternate Views
• Specification - A document style view of the elements on the current diagram. Focused on the name and the notes of elements\

• Diagram Matrix View
• This connector focused view provides a view of how elements on the current diagram are related
• Provides a relationship matrix view for the elements that appear on a diagram
• Drawn in a style similar to the state table view
• Uses existing quicklinker rules to determine which connectors can be created
• Includes the option to limit the display to those elements that have relationships defined

• Model Documents XML export
• Model documents can now be exported to XML that allows importing all linked packages into another model
• Allows you to easily define a model subset that can be included in a restricted WebEA view

2019-08-08 Thursday - The Coq Language

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coq

"Coq is an interactive theorem prover. It allows the expression of mathematical assertions, mechanically checks proofs of these assertions, helps to find formal proofs, and extracts a certified program from the constructive proof of its formal specification. Coq works within the theory of the calculus of inductive constructions, a derivative of the calculus of constructions. Coq is not an automated theorem prover but includes automatic theorem proving tactics and various decision procedures."

"The Association for Computing Machinery rewarded Thierry Coquand, Gérard Pierre Huet, Christine Paulin-Mohring, Bruno Barras, Jean-Christophe Filliâtre, Hugo Herbelin, Chetan Murthy, Yves Bertot and Pierre Castéran with the 2013 ACM Software System Award for Coq."

"The word coq means "rooster" in French, and stems from a local tradition of naming French research development tools with animal names.^[4] Up to 1991, Coquand was implementing a language called the Calculus of Constructions and it was simply called CoC at this time. In 1991, a new implementation based on the extended Calculus of Inductive Constructions was started and the name changed from CoC to Coq, also an indirect reference to Thierry Coquand who developed the Calculus of Constructions along with Gérard Pierre Huet and the Calculus of Inductive Constructions along with Christine Paulin-Mohring." 

https://coq.inria.fr/

"Coq is a formal proof management system. It provides a formal language to write mathematical definitions, executable algorithms and theorems together with an environment for semi-interactive development of machine-checked proofs. Typical applications include the certification of properties of programming languages (e.g. the CompCert compiler certification project, or the Bedrock verified low-level programming library), the formalization of mathematics (e.g. the full formalization of the Feit-Thompson theorem or homotopy type theory) and teaching."

Github Resources:


https://github.com/coq

• https://github.com/coq/coq/wiki

A port of Coq to Javascript 

• https://github.com/ejgallego/jscoq
• "JsCoq is written in ES2017"
• "Coq is compiled to JavaScript using the js_of_ocaml compiler."

Tutorial Resources:

• https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/current/index.html
• https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/current/lf-current/index.html
• https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/lf-current/Basics.html
• https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/current/plf-current/index.html
• https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/current/vfa-current/index.html
• https://softwarefoundations.cis.upenn.edu/current/qc-current/index.html
• https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.01466.pdf
• ("Learning how to Prove: From the Coq Proof Assistant to Textbook Style")
• https://www.lri.fr/~paulin/LASER/course-notes.pdf
• ("Introduction to the Coq proof-assistant for practical software verification")
• http://www.cs.umd.edu/~rrand/cufp_2015/
• ("CUFP 2015: An Introduction to the Coq Proof Assistant, By Arthur Azevedo de Amorim and Robert Rand, University of Pennsylvania")
• https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/Coq
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WBUHEVr56c
• ("Introduction to the Coq Proof Assistant - Andrew Appel")

Sandboxes:

• https://x80.org/rhino-coq/
• ("JsCoq Interactive Online System")

Note:

My awareness and interest in Coq was spurred by this AI podcast interview that Lex Fridman conducted with George Holtz (re: Comma.ai, OpenPilot, and Autonomous Vehicles)
(Bloomberg: "The First Person to Hack the iPhone Built a Self-Driving Car. In His Garage")