UML Tutorial

Introduction to UML

“UML is a unified modeling language and a general-purpose standardized language.”

 Its goal is to facilitate a standard way to visualize the system’s design. Thus, UML is a standard language for a blueprint of the software.

UML was developed by Grady Booch, Ivar Jacobson, James Rumbaugh of intelligent software. Further improvements were made through 1996 from 1994 to 1995. They all contributed their intelligence to minimize the complexity of the language.

It provides a subset of diagrams with which convoluted data, processes, and systems can smoothly be organized in a fair, conscious manner.

UML is neither a process nor a procedure; instead, it serves a "dictionary" of symbols – where each of its symbols has a precise meaning. It provides diagrams for programming, design, analysis of object-oriented, by assuring that a smooth transition occurs from requirements placed on a system to eventual implementation. System behaviors and structure provides clear allusion points for solution growth.

OMG in UML

OMG (Object Management Group) has adopted and managed UML as a standard in 1997. After that, in 2005, it was also approved as a standard by the ISO (International Standardization Organization). It also provides services to create and build the various kinds of models that are present in the real world. So, anyone can understand the project without facing many difficult challenges.

Even if UML is used to design software systems, it is not bounded to this barrier. UML also creates the non-software type of systems -for example, the process flow of a constructing system, etc.

Objectives of UML

  • So many convoluted applications require planning and collaboration from various teams and hence need a clear and succinct form to communicate between them.
  • Non-programmers do not understand the internal functionality of the code. So UML becomes a critical aspect of communicating with non-programmers with essential features, processes, and requirements of the system.
  • It saves time whenever teams are capable of visualizing the static structure of the system, user interaction, and processes.
  • The users can develop and transfer useful models with a ready-to-use, dramatic visual modeling language.
  • It contributes specialization and extensibility mechanisms to enhance the core modules.
  • We should be self-reliant with specific programming processes, concepts, and programming languages.
  • It gives unique support for the compassion of the modeling language.
  • It also boost-up the object-oriented production field.
  • It provides various higher-level development approaches like patterns, collaborations, frameworks, and components.
  • Desegregate good proceeding.

Advantages and disadvantages of UML

UML is a versatile language, which is used to design a system. The researchers have some differences in their opinion regarding UML. Many people consider it unnecessary in the software industry.

Advantages of UML

Mostly used: UML is a broadly observed and understood platform for software development. It provides notations among several developers.

Flexibility: What makes UML attractive, expressive, and well-needed to software industries is UML’s flexibility itself. Anyone can promote modeling components and synergies within UML diagrams explicitly to uniform sphere and technology anyone is applying.

Effective Communication: UML expedites better communication regarding software architecture to a significant number of users. Software architecture can be defined as a blueprint or framework which describes the degree of dependency of its efficiency and processes. But, this blueprint is only beneficial to those who are using it or working on it.

Expressive Tools: In the field of software engineering, UML tool provides a specific mechanism to make UML development language and go-to modeling language. These are one of the most crucial artifacts. UML tools can bring code from the design, complexity reasoning, drill requirements, reverse engineering code, and design patterns.

Easy to use: Yet there are 14 various kinds of UML diagrams available for developing applications and design models. But developers use only three or four diagrams to implement it. So many diagrams are being used by developers like sequence diagrams, use case diagrams, class diagrams, etc.

It signifies that if you want to demonstrate 80% of your modeling requirements, then you must have knowledge of about 20% of the UML language. You don’t have to understand or appreciate the whole notation to collaborate using UML diagrams. The knowledge of notation is enough.

Advantages and disadvantages of UML

Disadvantages of UML

Size and Complexity: Since its inauguration, UML has grown in size and complexity. The erect volume of UML makes many people concerned at the commencement, and their ambiance like they would not be adequate to grasp it.

Focus on Design: UML emphasizes more on design, which can create problems for some organizations and developers. Software scope in a UML diagram can cause software project users over-investigating issues, as well as motivate people to drop focus by spending too much attention on software appearance. BrodyGooch, a cooperator of UML, said that"graphical language to help reason about the design of a system as it unfolds."

Formal documentation is Not Mandatory: The vigorous clash against UML is that you don’t require proper documentation to express the design adequately. You can get a similar jolt and outcome with spontaneous, line-and-box diagrams established in PowerPoint, Whiteboard, etc. A lot of developers do not prefer rituality and the complexity at the designing level, which can bother the adoption of UML.

Diagrams Can Get Complicated: Sometimes, the diagram becomes complicated that not be very clear. Developers cannot construct every single plot for a software tool in the diagram, and even if they shot to, the diagram gets sloppy.

Audience

This tutorial is contrived for both newcomers as well as experienced. It will be helpful for understanding various fundamental approaches of Unified Modeling Language. At the end of this enormous tutorial, you will find yourself at a conservative level of excellence from where you will push up yourself to the later levels.

Prerequisites

As a prerequisite, no explicit intelligence is required to find out material in this tutorial. The user must be concerned about building-up the awareness of UML.

Problems

We persuade you that you’ll not face any complication in this UML tutorial. But if you face any difficulty or there is any question, kindly let us know by posting it in the contact form so that further we can revamp it.

UML Index

UML Tutorial

UML History and Versions

UML Building Blocks

UML Architecture

UML Diagrams

UML Timing Diagram

UML Relationships

UML Association

UML Dependency

UML generalization

UML realization

UML Class Diagram

UML Object Diagram

UML Component Diagram

UML Deployment Diagram

UML Interaction Diagram

UML Use Case Diagram

UML Sequence Diagram

UML Collaboration Diagram

UML State-Chart Diagram

UML Activity Diagram

UML Rules

UML Tools