MDA Distilled: Principles of Model-Driven Architecture

Why Not MDA?

One possible future, of course, is the failure of the concept of model-driven development in its entirety. Despite our trick of defining a program to be a model, the fact is that many people think of the code as the be-all-and-end-all of systems development, and that playing with pictures is only for kindergarten (the huge sums being made from stick-figure actors notwithstanding). If the code-is-all view prevails, MDA will be as dead as a ham sandwich.

Failure is a real possibility if MDA does not address the perception that models are “extra,” that once you build a model and do with it what you will, then you have to write code and the model becomes superfluous. (This, remember, is what has caused the “extreme” backlash.) Models ...