1. @melaniebats
The future of modeling tools
Mélanie Bats, CTO @ Obeo
📧 melanie.bats@obeo.fr
🐦@melaniebats

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Who am I ?
CTO @ Obeo
Open source addict
Committer on Eclipse Sirius, Eclipse EEF, UML Designer
Member of the Eclipse Councils
Involved on collaborative projects : RT Simex, Gemoc

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Once upon a time...

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2002-2006 -Rise of the giants
Birth of the Eclipse Modeling
Ecosystem :
GEF/EMF/GMF

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2005 - Meanwhile in France
Obeo is Alive!

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2006 - Acceleo

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Obeo
Is a tool provider : develop dedicated modeling workbenches
Creates open source technologies
Is a key player of the Eclipse Modeling Ecosystem!
Has a long experience in developing graphical tools
Is involved in the open source and Eclipse projects : Sirius, Acceleo, EMF/GMF,
EcoreTools, EMF Compare, UML Designer, M2Doc, Capella...

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Why do we develop
modeling tools ?

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Tools are helping us to be more productive and
focus our time on bringing value to the products
we are building.
Unleash our complete potential...

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2007 - The Sirius awakens

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What is Sirius ?
An open source project to easily create your
own graphical modeling workbench

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Developing a Modeling Tool ?
Domain concepts1

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Developing a Modeling Tool ?
Domain concepts1 2 Configuration+

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Developing a Modeling Tool ?
Domain concepts1 2 3Configuration Modeling tool+ =

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Developing a Modeling Tool ?
Domain concepts1 2 3Configuration Modeling tool
Tool developer End User
+ =

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Maps concepts to...
22
Concepts1
Sirius configuration2

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Maps concepts to graphical elements
Graphical workbench
Sirius configuration2
3

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Sirius Demo

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03/2013 - Let it go!
http://cedric.brun.io/introducing-eclipse-sirius/

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Sirius is alive!
One main version every year & several minor versions
Obeo Designer Community Edition => All you need to work with Sirius
Since2007

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What are the trends ?

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A new generation of IDEs
Developers love them because of :
● Lightweight
● Simplicity
● Powerful tooling
● Easy customization
● High release cadence

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The VS code example
● <100Mb download
● Light UI
● Marketplace
● Extensions, Language
Servers
● Every month a new
version

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And other light editors
And now Atom IDE

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A developer today:

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A developer today:
- Works mainly on his localhost.

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A developer today:
- Works mainly on his localhost
- Codes in only few technology sets

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Since time immemorial ...

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Light client

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Light client
Rich application
vs

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Not afraid
anymore by...
browser IDE

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Codesandbox

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The newborn: Eclipse Theia

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Online modeling tools
Lucidchart
Draw.io
GenMyModel...

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Eclipse Che

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Che workspace
IDE RuntimesProject Files

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Workspace Runtimes
Application stack + “Dev Mode”
IDE Tooling as microservices in sidecars
Language
IDE
Debugger
Test
App

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Dedicated workbenches

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The well known… RCP applications

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Don’t touch it, it’s
mine!

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Use a
sledgehammer to
crack a nut!

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ONE tool
dedicated to ONE
task!

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The way we develop is changing
40%
Of enterprise developers are
already using >3 languages in
development.
Using Many Languages
66%
Of enterprises are already
using containers in
development, test or
production.
Adopting Containers
Source: Cloud development Survey 2017 - Evans Data Corp

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Being more agile with our tools
Iterate faster
Focus on value to create
Share workspace with all stakeholders
Pair programming
Live collaboration

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Live collaboration

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What is the future of
modeling tools ?

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Go to : www.menti.com
and
use the code 20 03 94

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Modeling Tools we have today

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Based on the Eclipse Platform → Desktop applications
- Installation is necessary
- Deployment is painful
- Updates are (re)painful
- Extra storage is needed
Modeling Tools we have today

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Modeling Tools we want tomorrow

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Modeling Tools we want tomorrow
Based on the web technologies → Cloud applications
- No need to install
- No upgrades needed
- Easy access
- Adaptable to workload increase
- Access from various device

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Evolution of the IDE concept?
More accessible tool
Tools integrated
Different “views” for different use cases and different users

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IDE-agnostic tools
Tools to be opened to more “domains”, not only engineering
Tools to be available more broadly, to more platform, to more users

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Carry the Sirius spirit… to the cloud
● Define your modeling workbench in the .odesign file
● Dynamic, no code generation involved
● Flexible even for complex models
… RENDERED IN A BROWSER

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The challenges we meet...
Ease the deployment & the maintenance
Ease the creation of modeling workbench
Manage a technology switch
Keep providing new features for existing solutions

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Our plans to victory
Ease the deployment & the maintenance → Use web technologies
Ease the creation of modeling workbench → Extend the Sirius capabilities
Manage a technology switch → Switch from Eclipse platform based
application to web application
Keep providing new features for existing solutions → Integrate web based
feature to desktop application

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What we have
prototyped
today

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1. Introduce
web technologies
in existing
Eclipse views
Step by step, side by side...

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Light client
Rich application
vs

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HTML
renderer

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Sirius
Designer
s
HTML
renderer
Sirius 6.0

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Sirius
Designer
s
HTML
renderer
Sirius 6.0

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Web components...
Sirius 6.0
Available within Sirius 6.0 : https://github.com/eclipse/sirius-components

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Sirius 6.0

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Web components... in Eclipse views
Integrate in existing Sirius workbench new features
Sirius 6.0
Eclipse view
Web
Component

74. Demo : Workflow
Sirius 6.0

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2. Make Sirius
independent from
Eclipse platform
Step by step, side by side...

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Split the architecture
● Progressively modularize the Sirius code base
● Isolate dependencies : Eclipse UI, GMF Runtime, Eclipse Workspace, Eclipse Runtime
● Keep the framework working at all time & keep releasing new features
● Split core business code from rendering technologies
○ Core deployable in headless (web) server
○ Exposes services through well-defined API & protocols

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Open Core
● Contribute new architecture to existing Eclipse Sirius project
● Still involved in the Eclipse community & release train
● As today some components will be proprietary licensed
○ Community Edition vs Team Edition

78. Demo : Sirius Headless
Prototype

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3. Expose services
through the
Graphical Server
Protocol
Step by step, side by side...

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ServerClientsDesktop Application
Path to go
Sirius Client
Sprotty
Sirius ServerGraphical
Server
Protocol
Sirius Core
Sprotty
Browser
Modeling tool
Eclipse
Sirius
GEF
GMF
Modeling tool
Today Tomorrow

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Graphical Server Protocol
● Lowering the cost of integrating a graphical tool in a platform
● Defining a protocol used to communicate between a platform and a graphical
designer
● Open source initiative : https://obeonetwork.github.io/GraphicalServerProtocol/

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4. Render
Sirius diagrams
in a browser
Step by step, side by side...

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Diagrams in the Web
First components contributed this fall
to Sirius
★★★Stay tuned!★★★
@EclipseSirius
https://blog.obeo.fr
Prototype

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Based on ...
Sprotty :
● A simple JS based graphical library
● Small & lightweight open source project
● Well integrated with Eclipse ELK for auto-layout
And other mainstream technologies as React & Jetty

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Layout & Layers in the Web
Prototype

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Your modeling tool in the Web
Prototype

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5. Sirius
integrated with
Cloud IDEs
Step by step, side by side...

88. Demo: Sirius integrated with Theia
Prototype

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Demo : Sirius integrated with Che
Prototype

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What’s next ?

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“Cloudifying” our tools
More resources
More computing power
Simplification of deployment
Tools lifecycle

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IA for developers
Machine learning applied to :
● Code recommendation
● Team collaboration
● Auto layout mechanism

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Chatbots
W
hyNot?

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Deep learning
Soundscool:)
Layout?

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Blockchain
Buzzword!
Model collaboration?

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Virtual Reality?
OM
G!

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What do you want ?
Come to chat with us

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Open source is the only way
Convergence of energies
Sharing of different ideas and visions
Open protocols : language server, debugger, and others...

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To go beyond…
We need you!
Share needs &
feedback
https://www.eclipse.org/sirius/com
munity.html
Contribute to
Sirius
https://www.eclipse.org/sirius/
Participate to the
Graphical Server
Protocol
https://github.com/ObeoNetwork/G
raphicalServerProtocol
Support Obeo
https://www.obeo.fr/en/contact

100. Thanks! Questions ?
melanie.bats@obeo.fr / @melaniebats
@EclipseSirius
https://blog.obeo.fr