Artisan launches C# Synchronizer for Artisan Studio

The C# Synchronizer for Artisan Studio significantly increases software design predictability and dramatically reduces the time for development by eliminating the need for separate modeling and coding phases and the manual updates that would otherwise be required to keep the model and code from diverging. Code always remains in-step with the design and drift is prevented as synchronization is automatic and near-instantaneous.

C# Synchronizer for Artisan Studio fits perfectly into a Model-Driven Development (MDD) process. Structural design undertaken in UML is immediately propagated to the C# source code and roundtrip C# ‘action’ code back to the model each time a source code file is saved. Working automatically in the background, the C# Synchronizer ensures that the model and code are simply two different views of the same project. Model changes are automatically detected and trigger the incremental generator which only regenerates code as required, thereby avoiding needless code recompilation. With the C# Synchronizer, production code is consequently available early in the project cycle enabling it to be checked progressively for validity, performance and conformance to defined coding standards.

Approved as a standard by ECMA (ECMA-334) and ISO (ISO/IEC 23270), the C# object-oriented programming language was originally developed by Microsoft as part of the .NET initiative. Interfaces to other .NET Assemblies can be modeled and implemented using Artisan Studio and the C# Synchronizer. Relationships to library elements can be modeled in the same intuitive way as relationships between ‘internal’ elements. A .NET Assembly Importer is provided to avoid the need for programmers to manually enter library elements.

Support is also provided for large C# development teams with multiple programmers. Artisan Studio’s sandbox feature allows individual C# programmers to work in isolation from changes made by others and to merge those changes when needed, a key requirement for the implementation phase. Unlike conventional file-based configuration management, Artisan Studio’s sandbox technology is optimized for UML and to support a MDD process.

Artisan’s Template Development Kit (TDK) can also be used to adapt and extend the way UML models are mapped to C# code. The mapping is itself is described in a model using object oriented principles, so user adaptations and extensions can be made more easily and in a way that simplifies maintenance.

Commenting on the launch of the C# Synchronizer for Artisan Studio, Jeremy Goulding, Chief Commercial Officer for Artisan Software Tools, said: “The C# Synchronizer for Artisan Studio delivers significant benefits to C# development projects particularly in terms of reducing the development cycle and improving software predictability as well as facilitating a best-of breed MDD process for software architecting and code implementation.”