Unified Modeling Language, or UML, is a multiple view and graphical language that offers a variety of diagrams for different modeling purposes. While a beginner might experience some confusion with all these possibilities, it is essential to choose the relevant diagrams for specific application designs. Object Management Group (OMG), which is the industry recognized body that sets integration standards, certifies and manages UML. This assures UML’s standardization and accounts for the modeling tool’s wide use and acceptance. Various vendors build “case tools” that automate and simplify the creation of UML diagrams and generation of implementation codes.
Software Analysis
- UML uses graphical symbols to express the design of software projects. Software project team members communicate with each other through UML artifacts using case diagrams in the inception phase, which helps in establishing project boundaries. Class diagrams are introduced in the elaboration phase, in which the team uses object diagrams to establish the relationship among objects of classes. Project teams can use UML to explore potential designs and validate the architectural design of the software system.
General Purpose Language
- Organizations across many industries use UML to develop a variety of concepts. These organizations use UML in different application domains, such as information systems, desktop applications, telecommunication systems, banking applications and scientific applications. Although it is typically targeted for software modeling, managers can use the tool for modeling hardware configurations and business processes. It is a general purpose language and helps in modeling real-time systems in a natural way.
Object-Oriented Modeling
- UML is object-oriented modeling; and it supports all the fundamental concepts of the object-oriented paradigm. Although UML is not a programming language, programmers can use UML to develop pseudo code for object-oriented languages. The illustrative notations of the UML make the models easy to visualize. Users can customize the tool for each particular application domain and concrete problem. Thus, UML is extensible and controllable. Developers also use UML for modeling middleware, which is effective in modeling complex systems.
Other Considerations
- UML is platform independent, which means that developers can reuse the specifications for different architectures, technologies and environments. Furthermore, it is useful for non-functional requirements. As it is object oriented, the UML views transform into code easily. Some tools support this automatic code generation task. UML allows opportunities for integration among processes and domains; hence, software designers can focus on delivering business values and providing tools and techniques to accomplish business initiatives.
