UML

UML class diagrams describe the structure (but not the behavior) of an OOP solution. These are possibly the most often used diagrams in the industry and are an indispensable tool for an OO programmer.

An example class diagram:

The basic UML notations used to represent a class:

A Table class shown in UML notation:

class Table {

    Integer number;
    Chair[] chairs = null;
    
    Integer getNumber() {
        // ...
    }

    void setNumber(Integer n) {
        // ...
    }
}

class Table:

  def __init__(self):
    self.number = 0
    self.chairs = []

  def get_number(self):
    # ...

  def set_number(self, n):
    # ...

The 'Operations' compartment and/or the 'Attributes' compartment may be omitted if such details are not important for the task at hand. 'Attributes' always appear above the 'Operations' compartment. All operations should be in one compartment rather than each operation in a separate compartment. Same goes for attributes.

The visibility of attributes and operations is used to indicate the level of access allowed for each attribute or operation. The types of visibility and their exact meanings depend on the programming language used. Here are some common visibilities and how they are indicated in a class diagram:

• + : public
• - : private
• # : protected
• ~ : package private

Table class with visibilities shown:

class Table {

    private Integer number;
    private Chair[] chairs = null;

    public Integer getNumber() {
        //...
    }

    public void setNumber(Integer n) {
        //...
    }
}

class Table:

  def __init__(self):
    self.__number = 0
    self.__chairs = []

  def get_number(self):
    # ...

  def set_number(self, n):
    # ...

Generic classes can be shown as given below. The notation format is shown on the left, followed by two examples.

You should use a solid line to show an association between two classes.

You should use arrow heads to indicate the navigability of an association.

Logic is aware of Minefield, but Minefield is not aware of Logic.

class Logic {
    Minefield minefield;
}

class Minefield {
    ...
}

class Logic:
  
  def __init__(self, minefield):
    self.minefield = minefield
    
  # ...


class Minefield:
  # ...

Here is an example of a bidirectional navigability; each class is aware of the other.

Navigability can be shown in class diagrams as well as object diagrams.

According to this object diagram, the given Logic object is associated with and aware of two MineField objects.

Association Role labels are used to indicate the role played by the classes in the association.

This association represents a marriage between a Man object and a Woman object. The respective roles played by objects of these two classes are husband and wife.

Note how the variable names match closely with the association roles.

class Man {
    Woman wife;
}

class Woman {
    Man husband;
}

class Man:
  def __init__(self):
    self.wife = None # a Woman object

class Woman:
   def __init__(self):
     self.husband = None # a Man object

The role of Student objects in this association is charges (i.e. Admin is in charge of students)

class Admin {
    List<Student> charges;
}

class Admin:
  def __init__(self):
    self.charges = [] # list of Student objects

Association labels describe the meaning of the association. The arrow head indicates the direction in which the label is to be read.

In this example, the same association is described using two different labels.

• Diagram on the left: Admin class is associated with Student class because an Admin object uses a Student object.
• Diagram on the right: Admin class is associated with Student class because a Student object is used by an Admin object.

Commonly used multiplicities:

• 0..1 : optional, can be linked to 0 or 1 objects.
• 1 : compulsory, must be linked to one object at all times.
• * : can be linked to 0 or more objects.
• n..m : the number of linked objects must be within n to m inclusive.

In the diagram below, an Admin object administers (is in charge of) any number of students but a Student object must always be under the charge of exactly one Admin object.

In the diagram below,

• Each student must be supervised by exactly one professor. i.e. There cannot be a student who doesn't have a supervisor or has multiple supervisors.
• A professor cannot supervise more than 5 students but can have no students to supervise.
• An admin can handle any number of professors and any number of students, including none.
• A professor/student can be handled by any number of admins, including none.

UML uses a dashed arrow to show dependencies.

Two examples of dependencies:

Dependencies vs associations:

• An association is a relationship resulting from one object keeping a reference to another object (i.e., storing an object in an instance variable). While such a relationship forms a dependency, we need not show that as a dependency arrow in the class diagram if the association is already indicated in the diagram. That is, showing a dependency arrow does not add any value to the diagram.
  Similarly, an inheritance results in a dependency from the child class to the parent class but we don't show it as a dependency arrow either, for the same reason as above.
• Use a dependency arrow to indicate a dependency only if that dependency is not already captured by the diagram in another way (for instance, as an association or an inheritance) e.g., class Foo accessing a constant in Bar but there is no association/inheritance from Foo to Bar.

An association can be shown as an attribute instead of a line.

Association multiplicities and the default value can be shown as part of the attribute using the following notation. Both are optional.

name: type [multiplicity] = default value

The diagram below depicts a multi-player Square Game being played on a board comprising of 100 squares. Each of the squares may be occupied with any number of pieces, each belonging to a certain player.

A Piece may or may not be on a Square. Note how that association can be replaced by an isOn attribute of the Piece class. The isOn attribute can either be null or hold a reference to a Square object, matching the 0..1 multiplicity of the association it replaces. The default value is null.

The association that a Board has 100 Squares can be shown in either of these two ways:

Show each association as either an attribute or a line but not both. A line is preferred as it is easier to spot.

Notation:

In the class diagram below, there are two enumerations in use:

In UML class diagrams, underlines denote class-level attributes and variables.

In the class diagram below, the totalStudents attribute and the getTotalStudents method are class-level.

UML uses a solid diamond symbol to denote composition.

Notation:

A Book consists of Chapter objects. When the Book object is destroyed, its Chapter objects are destroyed too.

UML uses a hollow diamond to indicate an aggregation.

Notation:

Example:

You can use a triangle and a solid line (not to be confused with an arrow) to indicate class inheritance.

Notation:

Examples: The Car class inherits from the Vehicle class. The Cat and Dog classes inherit from the Pet class.

An interface is shown similar to a class with an additional keyword <<interface>>. When a class implements an interface, it is shown similar to class inheritance except a dashed line is used instead of a solid line.

The AcademicStaff and the AdminStaff classes implement the SalariedStaff interface.

You can use italics or {abstract} (preferred) keyword to denote abstract classes/methods.

Example:

A UML sequence diagram captures the interactions between multiple objects for a given scenario.

Consider the code below.

class Machine {

    Unit producePrototype() {
        Unit prototype = new Unit();
        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
            prototype.stressTest();
        }
        return prototype;
    }
}

class Unit {

    public void stressTest() {

    }
}

Here is the sequence diagram to model the interactions for the method call producePrototype() on a Machine object.

Notation:

This sequence diagram shows some interactions between a human user and the Text UI of a Command Line InterfaceCLI Minesweeper game.

The player runs the newgame action on the TextUi object which results in the TextUi showing the minefield to the player. Then, the player runs the clear x y command; in response, the TextUi object shows the updated minefield.

The :TextUi in the above example denotes an unnamed instance of the class TextUi. If there were two instances of TextUi in the diagram, they can be distinguished by naming them e.g. TextUi1:TextUi and TextUi2:TextUi.

Arrows representing method calls should be solid arrows while those representing method returns should be dashed arrows.

Note that unlike in object diagrams, the class/object name is not underlined in sequence diagrams.

[Common notation error] Activation bar too long: The activation bar of a method cannot start before the method call arrives and a method cannot remain active after the method has returned. In the two sequence diagrams below, the one on the left commits this error because the activation bar starts before the method Foo#xyz() is called and remains active after the method returns.

[Common notation error] Broken activation bar: The activation bar should remain unbroken from the point the method is called until the method returns. In the two sequence diagrams below, the one on the left commits this error because the activation bar for the method Foo#abc() is not contiguous, but appears as two pieces instead.

Notation:

• The arrow that represents the constructor arrives at the side of the box representing the instance.
• The activation bar represents the period the constructor is active.

The Logic object creates a Minefield object.

UML uses an X at the end of the lifeline of an object to show its deletion.

Notation:

Note how the below diagram shows the deletion of the Minefield object.

Notation:

The Player calls the mark x,y command or clear x y command repeatedly until the game is won or lost.

UML can show a method of an object calling another of its own methods.

Notation:

The markCellAt(...) method of a Logic object is calling its own updateState(...) method.

In this variation, the Book#write() method is calling the Chapter#getText() method which in turn does a call back by calling the getAuthor() method of the calling object.

UML uses alt frames to indicate alternative paths.

Notation:

Minefield calls the Cell#setMine method if the cell is supposed to be a mined cell, and calls the Cell:setMineCount(...) method otherwise.

No more than one alternative partitions be executed in an alt frame. That is, it is acceptable for none of the alternative partitions to be executed but it is not acceptable for multiple partitions to be executed.

UML uses opt frames to indicate optional paths.

Notation:

Logic#markCellAt(...) calls Timer#start() only if it is the first move of the player.

UML uses par frames to indicate parallel paths.

Notation:

Logic is calling methods CloudServer#poll() and LocalServer#poll() in parallel.

If you show parallel paths in a sequence diagram, the corresponding Java implementation is likely to be multi-threaded because a normal Java program cannot do multiple things at the same time.

Method calls to static (i.e., class-level) methods are received by the class itself, not an instance of that class. You can use <<class>> to show that a participant is the class itself.

To reduce clutter, activation bars and return arrows may be omitted if they do not result in ambiguities or loss of information. Informal operation descriptions such as those given in the example below can be used, if more precise details are not required for the task at hand.

A minimal sequence diagram

An object diagram shows an object structure at a given point of time.

An example object diagram:

Notation:

Notes:

• The class name and object name e.g. car1:Car are underlined.
• objectName:ClassName is meant to say 'an instance of ClassName identified as objectName'.
• Unlike classes, there is no compartment for methods.
• Attributes compartment can be omitted if it is not relevant to the task at hand.
• Object name can be omitted too e.g. :Car which is meant to say 'an unnamed instance of a Car object'.

Some example objects:

A solid line indicates an association between two objects.

UML notes can augment UML diagrams with additional information. These notes can be shown connected to a particular element in the diagram or can be shown without a connection. The diagram below shows examples of both.

Example:

Compared to the notation for class diagrams, object diagrams differ in the following ways:

• Show objects instead of classes:
  • Instance name may be shown
  • There is a : before the class name
  • Instance and class names are underlined
• Methods are omitted
• Multiplicities are omitted

Furthermore, multiple object diagrams can correspond to a single class diagram.

Both object diagrams are derived from the same class diagram shown earlier. In other words, each of these object diagrams shows ‘an instance of’ the same class diagram.