There is often an undesirably large gap between academic research and industry practice. This is all too frequently the case in the very areas that should be narrowing the gap; namely, software engineering research areas, including modeling, code generation, and metrics. In his research on automatic model transformations using unified modeling language (UML) diagrams, Milićev has taken a small step toward bridging that gap.

In essence, the author describes a technique that utilizes UML object diagrams to graphically map the instances that targeted code should create. Utilizing what I can only describe as “toy” (that is, classroom) examples, he demonstrates both the possibility of doing so and the positive potential implications of his work for reuse and productivity in the development of other generators.

Having had hands-on experience with object modeling myself, I can attest to the desirability of such results, as I am sure most readers can. In the concluding paragraphs, Milićev claims to be developing a tool that will both support and allow outside use of his results and methodologies. I hope that this is the case. Until that time, this remains yet another interesting potential result in object-oriented and software engineering research.