Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill UML Unified Modeling Language

History Developed in the 1990s to visually model object oriented systems –Grady Booch, Ivar Jacobson, Jim Rumbaugh Adopted by Object Management Group (the real OMG) in 1997 –They are the maintainers ISO standard in 2000 Combines data, business, object and component modeling Current version is 2.4 Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Related Visualizations Entity Relation Diagrams Rummler-Brache (swimlane) diagrams –Derived from flow charts Gane-Sarson (data flow diagrams) The Unified of UML shows that these were incorporated or modified Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

OMG Specification The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a graphical language for visualizing, specifying, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of a software- intensive system. The UML offers a standard way to write a system's blueprints, including conceptual things such as business processes and system functions as well as concrete things such as programming language statements, database schemas, and reusable software components Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

What is UML It is a graphics language –More of a specification of a language Use to define a system Describe the components of that system Blueprint for the system Does not define methodology, but supports any methodology Defines syntax and semantics for a variety of domains Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Domains Six major domains Use case model –The interaction between a user and the system Communication model –How components within the system interact Dynamic model –The states the system will pass through in order to accomplish work Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

More domains Logical model –System’s classes and objects Component model –The system’s software –Hardware used if unusual Physical Deployment model –Hardware architecture –How applications are deployed on this hardware Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Diagrams Classify UML diagrams into two basic types Behavioral –Describes dynamic interactions Structural –Describes static architecture Interaction Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Reference Chart Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Use Case Diagram Diagrams an interaction between a user and the system A scenario is a single interaction between a user and the system –Usually a text description of what will happen The use case diagram will often have many scenarios Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Contents People, internal or external, are depicted as stick figures Ovals represent the use case Lines connect the various actors Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Example Pharmacy Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

State Chart Diagram An interaction with a component Has one start and one or more finish nodes Each box represents a state Each arrow a state transition Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Example Windows Login Has one start and one end state Two middle states –Entering login –Entering password The Enter or Tab changes state All other characters return to same state Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Example Windows Login Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Activity Diagram Modified flowchart Flow of activities between various items Each item has a column –Known as a swimlane The activity moves between the lanes as the pieces interact Shows dependence of the actions of these items Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Activity Diagrams Ovals or rectangles represent actions Diamond are decisions with multiple possible output actions or merges with multiple inputs Arrows are the flow Actions may fork, that is split into concurrent actions, or join concurrent actions Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Example: Buying Car Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Diagrams UML is not generally precise It is not usually compiled into code –Although may be in some cases Different places might have different conventions on the symbols used Diagrams may be generated with Microsoft Visio or many other applications Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Other Tools A number of software tools for UML may also be used that have more power Most of these favor one methodology or another Some features –Code generation from diagrams –Generate diagrams from code –Round trip engineering –Report generation –Collaboration on diagrams Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Usage The objects description is the heart of UML There are three views of how it should be used: Sketch Blueprint Language Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Sketch Least formal In sketch mode the objects are discussed in an informal session among the developers Often starts on a whiteboard When the design starts to finalize it makes it to paper Any good graphics program can make it: –Visio, paint or many others Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Blueprint A blueprint is an exact guide used for construction An experienced developer generates detailed blueprints A team of (less experienced) developers convert this to programming language This requires a specialized tool since this is a precise description Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Directions In both sketch and blueprint mode there are two directions one can go: –UML to Code –Code to UML The latter usually is done by a program that scans the code and generates the graphics Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Language If the generation of the UML is precise enough and the tools sufficient, then the diagrams may be compiled directly into machine language This requires well experienced developers and a very good (expensive) tool Only one direction in this case, the UML is the code Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill

Conclusion? Devised for software system design Has incorporated many different graph and diagram types Also used in Entrerprise Architecture to model the enterprise An exercise should follow You should install Visio, if it is not on your computer Copyright © 2013 Curt Hill