Part 2: The ABCs of UML diagramming

As promised in the last post, we will be detailing the (b) Behavioral, (c) Grouping and (d) Annotational part of Things in this post.

(b) BEHAVIORAL

Behavioral things encapsulates the dynamic parts of all UML models. These behavioral things are shown below:

Interaction:

This is known as a behavior, which consists of messages that are exchanged among certain elements to finish a task that is specific.

State machine:

This is something that is useful when the state of an object in its life cycle is significant. This is concerned with the sequence of states an object goes through in reply to events, which are external factors that are responsible for state change.

(c) GROUPING

This is considered as a device where elements of a UML model can be grouped together. Consequently, there is only one thing under this section that is available.

Package:

A package is available for gathering behavioral and structural things.

(d) ANNOTATIONAL

This is defined as a way to capture remarks, descriptions, and comments of UML model elements. Like Grouping, there is only one thing available under this section.

Comment:

A comment is used to deliver things like notes and constraints of an element.

So here we have covered all aspects relating to (1) Things, which were started on the first post. The last post in this series, which we will publish later this week, will cover (2) Relationships and (3) Diagrams. All in all, we hope these posts have been useful to you when it comes to UML diagramming.

The real purpose behind these recent posts on UML have been to offer anyone, irrespective of their experience in UML, with an effective  “crash course” in understanding this area. We think this aim has been achieved. After this series is over, we hope to bring more interesting insights into UML during the coming weeks and months. Till then, Happy Diagramming!