Why, oh why?

I saw a post at LifeHacker that strucked me: "Hey, that's exactly why we use goal models", rather than use cases or anything else.

The post in question was about ToDo lists: "If You Want to Actually Finish the Tasks on Your To-Do List, Include Why You Should Do Them". When we know the goal, we can prioritize the tasks, think through alternatives, select what is more valuable to us, etc. Quite reasonable, right? That's pretty much why goal modeling is a good option for requirements modeling.

There are two more known goal modeling notations¹: i* (reads iStar) and KAOS. Both have been the target of invaluable research, even though they are not widely used in industry (yet?). More on then later.

¹ they are more than just notations, actually.

How to install Eclipse with QVT [Tutorial]

Yes, we can execute QVTo (QVT Operational) transformations with Eclipse!! If you already installed the Eclipse Modeling Tools, you just need to install the Operational QVT plugin (Jump to step 3). If not, here it goes:

Quick and Dirty version:

1. Download Eclipse Modeling Tools
2. Extract and run it
3. In the Eclipse's 'Help' menu, click at 'Instal Modeling Components'
4. Select 'Operational QVT' and follow the wizard

If you wanna know how to configure and run a QVT Operational transformation, check our other tutorial.

Thorough version:

1. Go to the Eclipse Modeling Tools site and download it. Wait, you don't know the Eclipse website url? Let's find out




Ok, now we know it: http://www.eclipse.org/

Click at 'downloads', select the operating system and download it.





Eclipse home



Download area - Select OS and then download the Eclipse Modeling Tools



Download it



2. Waaaait for it. Once it is downloaded, move it to the folder you want it to be installed in (Let's say, 'C:\EclipseModeling') and extract it there. Waaaait for it. A 'eclipse' folder will be created. Open it and run Eclipse



Extract it






And run eclipse.exe (if Windows)


The Eclipse will ask you to select a workspace folder, i.e., a project folders. Browse for a folder (or use the default one) and click 'Ok'.




In doubt, just press 'Ok'



3. Once Eclipse is open, go in the 'Help' menu and click at 'Instal Modeling Components'

4. In the wizard that follows, select 'Operational QVT' (in the Model to Model section) and click 'Finish'


Waaaait for it. Press 'Next' and then 'Next' again.




'Next' ...



...and 'Next' again


Here you are expected to read the license agreement, select 'I accept the terms of the license agreement' and click 'Finish'.




'I accept' and 'Finish'

5. Waaaait for it. When the installation is finished, you'll be requested to restart your Eclipse. Go on.

6. Waaaait for it (I promise you this is the last one). Now you're done! If you wanna check it, go to 'File/New/Other...' menu (Ctrl+N) and see that you can create a new 'Model to Model Transformation/Operational QVT Project'.

File/New/Other...

New 'Operational QVT Project'

That's it! If you wanna know how to configure and run a QVT Operational transformation, check our other tutorial.

What the hell?

I love programming. It is a hobby for me, as I find it very entertaining to solve these little puzzles people insists calling 'problems'. However, programming for programing is just fun - if we wanna make something really useful we need to pay attention to the world outside, right? That's pretty much why I started researching on requirements when I was a undergrad at UFPE/Brazil.

The research road is a long one, with plenty of time to learn and unlearn things. Specially those little obscure configurations required to use the diverse set of software engineering tools out there (i.e., Eclipse). Thus, I will use this space for sharing my thoughts and learnings on software engineering, hopefully helping fellow researchers on the way.

However, I cannot settle for that. In fact, the real reason I started this blog was to:

• Estimulate requirements researchers/engineers to program! Yeah, get your hands dirty! Use the power of the machine to make your research even better!
• Estimulate programmers to pay more attention to requirements! I know, the computer screen is so shiny, so attractive, so... but if we un-delve our head above the code ocean, we may find a fascinating world as well, full of interesting needs and desires waiting to be fulfilled!

So, what's your view on requirements and programming?