UML diagrams

what is UML
The UML stands for Unified modeling language, is a standardized general-purpose
visual modeling language in the field of Software Engineering. It is used for
specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the primary artifacts of the
software system. It helps in designing and characterizing, especially those software
systems that incorporate the concept of Object orientation. It describes the working
of both the software and hardware systems.

Goals of UML
o Since it is a general-purpose modeling language, it can be utilized by all the
modelers.
o UML came into existence after the introduction of object-oriented concepts to
systemize and consolidate the object-oriented development, due to the absence of
standard methods at that time.
o The UML diagrams are made for business users, developers, ordinary people, or
anyone who is looking forward to understand the system, such that the system can
be software or non-software.
o Thus it can be concluded that the UML is a simple modeling approach that is used to
model all the practical systems.

Characteristics of UML
The UML has the following features:

o It is a generalized modeling language.

o It is distinct from other programming languages like C++, Python, etc.
o It is interrelated to object-oriented analysis and design.
o It is used to visualize the workflow of the system.
o It is a pictorial language, used to generate powerful modeling artifacts.
UML-Diagrams
The UML diagrams are categorized into structural diagrams, behavioral
diagrams, and also interaction overview diagrams. The diagrams are hierarchically
classified in the following figure:

1. Structural Diagrams
Structural diagrams depict a static view or structure of a system. It is widely used in
the documentation of software architecture. It embraces class diagrams, composite
structure diagrams, component diagrams, deployment diagrams, object diagrams,
and package diagrams. It presents an outline for the system. It stresses the elements
to be present that are to be modeled.
 o Class Diagram: Class diagrams are one of the most widely used diagrams. It is
the backbone of all the object-oriented software systems. It depicts the static
structure of the system. It displays the system's class, attributes, and methods.
It is helpful in recognizing the relation between different objects as well as
classes.
o Composite Structure Diagram: The composite structure diagrams show
parts within the class. It displays the relationship between the parts and their
configuration that ascertain the behavior of the class. It makes full use of
ports, parts, and connectors to portray the internal structure of a structured
classifier. It is similar to class diagrams, just the fact it represents individual
parts in a detailed manner when compared with class diagrams.
o Object Diagram: It describes the static structure of a system at a particular
point in time. It can be used to test the accuracy of class diagrams. It
represents distinct instances of classes and the relationship between them at a
time.
o Component Diagram: It portrays the organization of the physical
components within the system. It is used for modeling execution details. It
determines whether the desired functional requirements have been
considered by the planned development or not, as it depicts the structural
relationships between the elements of a software system.
o Deployment Diagram: It presents the system's software and its hardware by
telling what the existing physical components are and what software
components are running on them. It produces information about system
software. It is incorporated whenever software is used, distributed, or
deployed across multiple machines with dissimilar configurations.
o Package Diagram: It is used to illustrate how the packages and their
elements are organized. It shows the dependencies between distinct
packages. It manages UML diagrams by making it easily understandable. It is
used for organizing the class and use case diagrams.

2. Behavioral Diagrams:
Behavioral diagrams portray a dynamic view of a system or the behavior of a system,
which describes the functioning of the system. It includes use case diagrams, state
diagrams, and activity diagrams. It defines the interaction within the system.
 o State Machine Diagram: It is a behavioral diagram. it portrays the system's
behavior utilizing finite state transitions. It is also known as the State-
charts diagram. It models the dynamic behavior of a class in response to
external stimuli.
o Activity Diagram: It models the flow of control from one activity to the other.
With the help of an activity diagram, we can model sequential and concurrent
activities. It visually depicts the workflow as well as what causes an event to
occur.
o Use Case Diagram: It represents the functionality of a system by utilizing
actors and use cases. It encapsulates the functional requirement of a system
and its association with actors. It portrays the use case view of a system.

3. Interaction Diagrams
Interaction diagrams are a subclass of behavioral diagrams that give emphasis to
object interactions and also depicts the flow between various use case elements of a
system. In simple words, it shows how objects interact with each other and how the
data flows within them. It consists of communication, interaction overview, sequence,
and timing diagrams.

o Sequence Diagram: It shows the interactions between the objects in terms of

messages exchanged over time. It delineates in what order and how the object
functions are in a system.
o Communication Diagram: It shows the interchange of sequence messages
between the objects. It focuses on objects and their relations. It describes the
static and dynamic behavior of a system.
o Timing Diagram: It is a special kind of sequence diagram used to depict the
object's behavior over a specific period of time. It governs the change in state
and object behavior by showing the time and duration constraints.
o Interaction Overview diagram: It is a mixture of activity and sequence
diagram that depicts a sequence of actions to simplify the complex
interactions into simple interactions.