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Closed 10 years ago.
What is a great way to learn good UML design? How often do you draw diagrams (other than static diagram of classes)? What is the best source for learning it?
I think Martin Fowler's "UML Distilled" is the best book for learning UML syntax. It's succinct and dense with information.
Unfortunately, knowing UML syntax well is not the same thing as knowing how to design.
Practical UML
UML Overview
I dunno, it depends on how big team is. Class/Sequence/Use cases is what mostly used for me I think. The most important thing is not overuse diagraming, couse the main goal is to help comunicate among team, help understand things same way, not just to make some useless diagrams papers and not use them.
However very complex system developed by group of teams, obviously require more diagrams I think, just to make sure everyone knows what they are doing and how things relate in system. There's quite lot good tools these days that help in modeling.
There was one project make I worked on where we used Enterprise Architect to make UML diagrams which we round-tripped (forward- and reverse-engineered) with the C# source code.
It (UML) wasn't good at defining the implementation of each method (using sequence diagrams), but it was OK defining the signatures of interfaces and of classes (i.e. the declarations, not definitions, of methods).
It was useful because you could have:
A diagram which shows how a group of classes interact (whereas with source code you see classes one at a time)
Different diagrams with different groups of classes; and sometimes the same class can appear on more than one diagram.
This was for a project where it was a requirement to create design documentation, with traceability from the use cases though design.
Related
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Closed 11 years ago.
After searching for hours on internet i am not able find sites which gives good material for UML reference.
can any body suggest which site/book is good for UML reference?
Maybe this collection of UML cheat sheets and reference guides is what you´re looking for: http://modeling-languages.com/best-uml-cheat-sheets-and-reference-guides/
First of all, you should bear in mind that UML and object-orientation - at least from point of view of software engineer - go hand in hand. You can't learn UML separate from Object oriented principles. In fact, UML is a way of representing object-oriented modeling.
Therefore, it helps a lot to learn them in parallel, since one helps to clarify the other. The book by Robert Martin, UML for Java Programers, is an excellent book that teaches both, one in light of the other.
If you are looking just for a reference book, then, Martin Fowler's "UML Distilled" is a concise and accessible reference.
Again, using UML to learn Object oriented modeling different from the case where you know OO but need a reference.
UML Distilled by Martin Fowler is the ideal book to start with, i would also recommend Object-Oriented Systems Analysis and Design by Simon Bennett. These two would provide a definitive guide. As well as this there are numerous UML cheat sheets online including
UML Quick Reference Guide
UML Reference Card
UML Cheatsheet
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Closed 11 years ago.
What is a good tool to design the implementation of websites? I typically use UMl to design applications, but I feel that does not apply well to websites, specifically the heavy emphasis on UI that websites require.
What would be a good tool to use to plan a webpage?
What kind of model do you need?
Are you capturing some information about the visual aspects? In which case wire-frames or other story-boarding techniques are good.
You also need may to capture navigation information, which can be done via story-boarding but sometimes a UML state diagram is more succint and easy to reason about.
Then you may also wish to capture the data model associated with each state, and in which case a simple UML class diagram works well.
In an AJAX-based app you also need to document the "invisible" ajax activities, and again UML state diagrams along with classes for the invoked REST services can be helpful.
For the UI, I'd certainly not use UML but a wireframing tool like MockingBird or Pencil. The first one has my preference, it's awesome. Just try it.
Well, I use PowerPoint to create web page mockups. It's fast, and allows you to create "storyboards" that simulate actual use of the website and its various pages.
PowerPoint is great for presenting conceptual ideas, or modeling the UI for a real person to see if they understand it (kind of like a high-resolution paper prototype).
The PowerPoint Prototyping Toolkit provides a collection of shapes, such as textboxes and dropdowns, that assist in creating form mockups. This template is also useful.
You can take a look at ForeUI. You can design not only the UI but also the behavior of the website. Here is an example: Blog Mockup Created with ForeUI
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Closed 10 years ago.
I'm going to start learning and using UML.
I need to know what considerations do you suggest for me? What is the best way to learn effectively it do you think?
Thank you
In a class named SE101- Software Engineering 1A at CPIT in New Zealand.
In my opinion, you'll find that sequence and use case diagrams will be essential for getting ideas across to non-programmers, and class diagrams (and object diagrams, to a lesser extent), for communicating ideas to other code-monkeys.
Plus, many programming books that you may read in the future, Design Patterns, for example, will use UML diagrams (class and object, mostly) to show the structure of the patterns. Knowing UML will make understanding these books a lot easier. Documentation, too, to a lesser extent.
I never did, and I never will. Modelling is not about mastering a type of discipline, good models don't need UML to be understood.
First, get a book/tutorial and try to understand the basics (definitions, models drawing, ...)
then, learn by example and practice, imagine or use a real problem and try to model it.
I started by reading an introductory book - Martin Fowler UML Distilled was quite good. Than I decided I really want to know how to use it, so I read a book about UML2 and UP (Unified Process) by Jim Arlow and Ila Neustadt. Afterward I had opportunity to take software engineering basics lecture at university which made me create simple specification with few diagrams. Afterward I took UML lecture, where I had again to create some UML diagrams. Now I am in the phase when UML is clear and I feel I need more knowledge about OO modeling, so I read a book on object oriented data modeling and object oriented programming and there are Use Cases by Alistair Cockbourne and some analytical patterns ahead for me. In between I read much of the model driven stuff and listened to SE Radio about all UML stuff - http://www.se-radio.net/tags/uml .
UML Distilled by Martin Fowler together with Applying UML And Patterns by Craig Larman, makes you understand the concept of UML and how to use it - as well the whole process with UP and so forth.
http://www.smartdraw.com/resources/tutorials/uml-diagrams/#/resources/tutorials/Getting-Started
This link was very helpful for me to learn modeling with UML.
For open source solutions check out Dia, and dia2code.
I read Martin Fowler's UML Distilled. That's all you need. It's thin, dense book that's unmatched on that topic.
I have several UML books, UML Distilled book from Addison Wesley comes to mind,
then it all gets familiar when you start reading Design Pattern books that illustrates the concepts using UML Diagrams.
I also use UML when I sketch a design.
You can only focus on 2 diagrams and start modeling almost immediately.
Usecase diagrams require reading but class diagram can be done at the same time as the code. It means that in less than 3 hours you can model.
Usecase diagram is simple and will help you to define the scope of your project.
Class diagram will define the physical architecture and can therefore be learned at the same time as codding if you use a tool having live code and model synchronization.
Don't spend time on model driven and code generation from a model because nobody really use it today !!
Inventor.
Sequence diagrams look more like business processes and usecases rather unstandardized.
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Closed 10 years ago.
What diagramming technique(s) do you use while programming to help you
or others understand your program or design. I am not talking about a person's
favorite tool, though a good tool probable helps a person greatly with
diagramming.
My intent in this question is to find the simple useful diagramming techniques
people actually use and find new ones to learn.
Do you use flow-charts, Data Flow Diagrams, ER diagrams, etc?
The web is full of recommendations! But what do real programmers, designers,
and code maintainers actually use in their day to day work.
Thanks for your feedback
Very High Level Discussion - Context Diagrams where the boxes might represent classes, packages, or sub-systems.
High Level Design - Sequence diagrams which show the interface between sub-systems, still no classes directly used but may be implied from this.
Detailed Design - Sequence diagrams which are at the class level.
If there is a tricky algorithm for something such as the correlation of multiple data streams into a new stream then I will generally use a Flow Chart to work out the algorithm.
If the solution requires knowledge of state then a State diagram is also used.
Those are the ones I use most.
When doing Data Warehouse design I draw Star Schemas to work out how to store the data. When doing Transactional DB design I use Entity Relationship diagrams to work our data storage.
When designing a UI I just sketch it out. Once I start to get some parts of the UI worked out and want to play with some areas I will make a template, print out a copy copies and then use that as a guide to work on sub-sections. For colour schemes, it can be handy to make a graphic using the gimp and have layers for each piece of the design and then play with the layers colouring each one to find the right balance.
What do we really use? Maybe other people actually create formal diagrams, but for the most part I just scribble bubbles, boxes and lines on a sheet of paper.
I use a whiteboard for modeling, so I guess "whiteboard modeling language" would be my answer.
I will do a UML Class diagram for anything i'm designing that is bigger than a couple of classes. Drawing a class diagram makes me take time out to think over the design instead of ploughing straight into the code and always produces a better result.
For bigger and more complicated architectures I find that Sequence diagrams are a good way to communicate behviour, especially for multi-threaded systems.
I use diagrams as a way to quickly understand legacy code. It takes some work to create the diagram, but it always pays of in the end.
Normally I use class diagrams to get the big picture. Sometimes sequence diagrams and even dataflow diagram if a piece o code is extremely hard to understand.
In the design phase I use class diagrams, and often state diagrams. State diagrams are perfect if a class behaviour differs with its state.
I use Sequence Diagrams a lot (drawn on paper). I find they give me a nice visual representation the logical flow of method calls and information between various systems and components in our applications.
I have a Flow chart of the main product I work with and develop.
My team also often uses UML diagram sketches on white-boards while designing new parts for us to implement. They're very useful in creating design patterns and modeling the high-level structure of the classes which will be needed. These are never full blown UML though...
Whiteboard for discussions.
Pen and paper for less temporary record.
Code stubs for 'Things to impelement'.
Tested and Working code (with extensive comments) for posterity.
I use ER and class diagrams on paper and whiteboard for any project that's bigger than a shell script.
Flow charts, only when I need to explain a process to a non-programmer (or if it's a really complicated process and I need to understand it first).
My old boss used to say "the guy just loves drawing stuff."
I work in an AJAX development environment, and most of the backend code I write works like a pipe between a relational database and the frontend javascript (user interface). So, the most used 'diagram' per say that I use are JSON objects to describe how data should be passed back and forth between the database and the interface. They are simple, universal and easy to understand data structures.
Example:
{
"id": row['id'],
"name": row['name'],
"mandatory": row['mandatory'],
"rangeDescription": "This is the Range",
"globalRate": row['global']
}
I draw bastardized versions of UML class, object and sequence diagrams. While I try to be true to the syntax, I am much more concerned about expressing the main idea behind particular feature. So, I'll draw up something, ask a colleague to take a look, and if it seems clear enough, we might even scan it and post it in our Wiki.
Then, when it so happens that we actually get some time to work on the documentation (and that is almost never), I'll use BOUML and redraw the scribbles into a proper diagram.
Now, to put is all in context, I'm working at a relatively small team (5 developers), making trading and product configuration platforms in Java. We have our two products that we then additionally customize to customer's requests. Being a close-knit community, with low (zero) turnaround for a few years, we use the documentation primarily as a remainder to ourselves. And in this setup, the above approach works quite well.
I like Data Flow Diagrams. A lot.
I use whatever is needed for communicatation. Usually that's nothing at all. Sometimes it's a whiteboard.
From time to time, I use Sparx Enterprise Architect, which is a UML modeling tool, though it produces decent diagams while it's at it. I've used it for requirements, use case, activity, sequence, domain, and even class modeling, and sometimes some reverse-engineered ER diagrams. Whatever it takes to get the point across.
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Closed 10 years ago.
Does anyone know of a decent UML standards guide?
My company currently relies on UML 2.0 (rightly or wrongly) to do the majority (read all) of their design work. I have been asked to come up with a draft 'best practice' guide to help other developers develop better models. The main problem I face is that Im slightly biased against UML... I feel that: if a diagram takes more than 5 mins to draw then its too complicated! Im looking for advice predominantly on what sort of standards I should be looking at. Also Im looking for an external source of information that can be used to balence out my irrational loathing of UML-heavy design and act as a 'sanitizer' for my suggestions.
Most of all Im looking to write a useful document rather than one that will sit moulding away in some obscure network directory.
Any ideas?
UML Distilled by Martin Fowler
Like Paul C, I recommend UML Distilled. It is primarily about UML, but it contains a lot of insight about design in general (although it insists a bit too much on index cards IMO), it is short, pleasant to read, and to the point.
I strongly recommend against UML in a Nutshell. It is the worst O'Reilly book I have: insanely dense, hard to read and meandering. Not worth the paper it is printed on.
We are not talking about a book that says how to use UML, but rather a style or standards guide of some sort. Enter, UML profiles... This can get you both the standardization and reduced complexity you are looking for. You can limit the relationships and elements which can be used. You can also require certain things. A large company may choose to focus on the assets and data movement and limit it's standardized diagrams to this view. However, a company making real-time software for tanks might focus on action or flow.
The whole point of UML is that it is not specific and useful for every kind of situation. Martin Fowler and Elements of style books will not reduce diagramming time and increase comprehension. You need standardized profiles or patterns for than. I have seen it work, to the point that the business can read them. Many tools allow you to create a profile which eases learning curve for the designers and reduces drawing time.
MDA Distilled (OMG Press) is a good book if you want to understand the concepts, but it is not needed.
Really, UML Profiles. You don't want a standard because your company or your need is different. A standard for Web Services does not work for real-time or financial services.
Buy everyone a copy of The Elements of UML 2.0 Style. Job done.
For a quick reference on how to compose individual UML diagrams, I heartily recommend The Elements of UML Style 2.0 and I put my money where my recommendation lies by purchasing the 2nd edition to replace my 1st ed.
Apart from this recommendation, I think the most important thing in a company when introducing any style guide is to have a local feedback mechanism where people can post comments on which aspects of the style guide work for them, especially when you're using an official printed guide. A wiki or similar casual repository should suffice for this.
I also suggest highlighting diagrams which were particularly good examples (or bad ones, if the team humor could take it). Consider a framed Diagram of the Week like the Employee of the Week you see in so many stores. That gives a gentle reminder that diagram readability is taken seriously but hopefully with enough fun to get more buy-in to the concept.
I know you probably want an easy to read book for this but from what you are describing I would suggest going with the specs found on OMG itself. They are a bit much to read but would be as complete as you could hope for. They also have lonks to articles and tutorials that may be helpful.
As far as books go I have found that Using UML is quite good since it tackles the software development process as well as the UML tools and methods.