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Basics of UML Diagrams With Examples

UML class diagrams are used to model the structure of object-oriented systems. A class diagram visually shows the classes, their attributes, operations, and relationships between classes such as associations, generalizations, and dependencies. Well-designed class diagrams provide an overview of the key entities and how they relate to each other at a high level without implementation details.

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Varun Agarwal
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261 views

Basics of UML Diagrams With Examples

UML class diagrams are used to model the structure of object-oriented systems. A class diagram visually shows the classes, their attributes, operations, and relationships between classes such as associations, generalizations, and dependencies. Well-designed class diagrams provide an overview of the key entities and how they relate to each other at a high level without implementation details.

Uploaded by

Varun Agarwal
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Design and UML Class Diagrams

Suggested reading: Practical UML: A hands on introduction for developers http://dn.codegear.com/article/31863 UML Distilled Ch. 3, by M. Fowler
1

How do people draw / write down software architectures?

Example architectures

person

sea agent

VerizonWireless

UW student

lake agent

GPS satellite

CSE 403 student

amphibious agent

Cell phone

Big questions
What is UML?
Why should I bother? Do people really use UML?

What is a UML class diagram?


What kind of information goes into it? How do I create it? When should I create it?

Design phase
design: specifying the structure of how a software system will be written and function, without actually writing the complete implementation a transition from "what" the system must do, to "how" the system will do it
What classes will we need to implement a system that meets our requirements? What fields and methods will each class have? How will the classes interact with each other?

How do we design classes?


class identification from project spec / requirements
nouns are potential classes, objects, fields verbs are potential methods or responsibilities of a class

CRC card exercises


write down classes' names on index cards next to each class, list the following:
responsibilities: problems to be solved; short verb phrases collaborators: other classes that are sent messages by this class (asymmetric)

UML diagrams
class diagrams (today) sequence diagrams ...

What is UML?
UML: pictures of an OO system
programming languages are not abstract enough for OO design UML is an open standard; lots of companies use it

What is legal UML?


a descriptive language: rigid formal syntax (like programming) a prescriptive language: shaped by usage and convention it's okay to omit things from UML diagrams if they aren't needed by team/supervisor/instructor

Uses for UML


as a sketch: to communicate aspects of system
forward design: doing UML before coding backward design: doing UML after coding as documentation often done on whiteboard or paper used to get rough selective ideas

as a blueprint: a complete design to be implemented


sometimes done with CASE (Computer-Aided Software Engineering) tools

as a programming language: with the right tools, code can be auto-generated and executed from UML
only good if this is faster than coding in a "real" language

UML
In an effort to promote Object Oriented designs, three leading object oriented programming researchers joined ranks to combine their languages:
Grady Booch (BOOCH) Jim Rumbaugh (OML: object modeling technique) Ivar Jacobsen (OOSE: object oriented software eng) and come up with an industry standard [mid 1990s].

UML Unified Modeling Language


Union of all Modeling Languages
Use case diagrams Class diagrams Object diagrams Sequence diagrams Collaboration diagrams Statechart diagrams Activity diagrams Component diagrams Deployment diagrams .

Very big, but a nice standard that has been embraced by the industry.

Object diagram ( class diagram)


individual objects (heap layout)
objectName : type attribute = value

lines show field references Class diagram:


summary of all possible object diagrams

Object diagram example

UML class diagrams


UML class diagram: a picture of
the classes in an OO system their fields and methods connections between the classes
that interact or inherit from each other

Not represented in a UML class diagram:


details of how the classes interact with each other algorithmic details; how a particular behavior is implemented

Diagram of one class


class name in top of box
write <<interface>> on top of interfaces' names use italics for an abstract class name

attributes (optional)
should include all fields of the object

operations / methods (optional)


may omit trivial (get/set) methods
but don't omit any methods from an interface!

should not include inherited methods

Class attributes (= fields)


attributes (fields, instance variables)
visibility name : type [count] = default_value visibility: + public # protected private ~ package (default) / derived underline static attributes derived attribute: not stored, but can be computed from other attribute values
specification fields from CSE 331

attribute example: - balance : double = 0.00

Class operations / methods


operations / methods
visibility name (parameters) : return_type + public # protected private ~ package (default) underline static methods parameter types listed as (name: type) omit return_type on constructors and when return type is void method example: + distance(p1: Point, p2: Point): double visibility:

Comments
represented as a folded note, attached to the appropriate class/method/etc by a dashed line

Relationships between classes


generalization: an inheritance relationship
inheritance between classes interface implementation

association: a usage relationship


dependency aggregation composition

Generalization (inheritance) relationships


hierarchies drawn top-down arrows point upward to parent line/arrow styles indicate whether parent is a(n):

class: solid line, black arrow abstract class: solid line, white arrow interface: dashed line, white arrow
often omit trivial / obvious generalization relationships, such as drawing the Object class as a parent

Associational relationships
associational (usage) relationships
1. multiplicity
* 1 2..4 3..*

(how many are used)

0, 1, or more 1 exactly between 2 and 4, inclusive 3 or more (also written as 3..)

2. name 3. navigability

(what relationship the objects have) (direction)

Multiplicity of associations
one-to-one
each student must carry exactly one ID card

one-to-many
one rectangle list can contain many rectangles

Car

Association types
aggregation: is part of
symbolized by a clear white diamond

1 1
Engine

aggregation

composition: is entirely made of


stronger version of aggregation the parts live and die with the whole symbolized by a black diamond
composition

Book

1 *
Page

dependency: uses temporarily


symbolized by dotted line often is an implementation detail, not an intrinsic part of that object's state
dependency

Lottery Ticket

Random

Composition/aggregation example

If the movie theater goes away so does the box office => composition but movies may still exist => aggregation

Class diagram example


No arrows; info can flow in both directions

Aggregation Order class contains OrderDetail classes. Could be composition?

UML example: people

Lets add the visibility attributes

Class diagram: voters

26

Class diagram example: video store


Multiplicity Customer Class

Simple Aggregation

Abstract Class Rental Item

Rental Invoice

1..* 1
Composition

0..1
Simple Association

Generalization

Checkout Screen DVD Movie VHS Movie Video Game

Class diagram example: student


StudentBody
+ main (args : String[])

100

Student
- firstName : String - lastName : String - homeAddress : Address - schoolAddress : Address + toString() toString() : String

Address
- streetAddress : String - city : String - state : String - zipCode : long + toString() : String

Tools for creating UML diagrams


Violet (free)
http://horstmann.com/violet/

Rational Rose
http://www.rational.com/

Visual Paradigm UML Suite (trial)


http://www.visual-paradigm.com/ (nearly) direct download link:
http://www.visual-paradigm.com/vp/download.jsp?product=vpuml&edition=ce

(there are many others, but most are commercial)

Design exercise: Texas Hold em poker game


2 to 8 human or computer players Each player has a name and stack of chips Computer players have a difficulty setting: easy, medium, hard Summary of each hand:
Dealer collects ante from appropriate players, shuffles the deck, and deals each player a hand of 2 cards from the deck. A betting round occurs, followed by dealing 3 shared cards from the deck. As shared cards are dealt, more betting rounds occur, where each player can fold, check, or raise. At the end of a round, if more than one player is remaining, players' hands are compared, and the best hand wins the pot of all chips bet so far.

What classes are in this system? What are their responsibilities? Which classes collaborate? Draw a class diagram for this system. Include relationships between classes (generalization and associational).

Class diagram pros/cons


Class diagrams are great for:
discovering related data and attributes getting a quick picture of the important entities in a system seeing whether you have too few/many classes seeing whether the relationships between objects are too complex, too many in number, simple enough, etc. spotting dependencies between one class/object and another

Not so great for:


discovering algorithmic (not data-driven) behavior finding the flow of steps for objects to solve a given problem understanding the app's overall control flow (event-driven? web-based? sequential? etc.)

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