Unit 3: Software Modeling
Many believe that good design is fundamental to creating successful software. The first step in software creation is to gather requirements. Notations, such as UML, allow us to articulate complex ideas succinctly and precisely. Designing software requires the use of certain industry standard design tools, and mastery of them is essential to becoming a capable software engineer.
This unit will introduce you to UML, a standardized general-purpose modeling language for creating visual models of object-oriented software. This unit aims to give you a comprehensive understanding of UML, the five fundamental artifacts of UML, and modeling concepts, as well as the modeling concepts' relationships to the terms system, model, and view.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- interpret the context appropriate for five commonly used UML artifacts; and
- apply abstraction to the UML artifacts to arrive at essential object-oriented modeling concepts.
3.1: Object-Oriented Concepts
This is a very complete overview of object-oriented programming with references to a number of different object languages. As you watch the video be sure to list each component of an object-oriented language as well as a brief descriptive statement. As you complete the subunits on UML, note how each component is diagrammed.
Read the "Definition of Object-Oriented Terms" section in Chapter 11 (pages 461-463). This section will cover basic object-oriented terms including classes/objects, abstract data type (ADT)/encapsulation, whole/part and generalization/specification classes, inheritance/polymorphism, and messages. Take your time in reading and jot down any ideas or notes that stand out to you as particularly useful (or, conversely, confusing).
3.2: An Overview of UML
Watch this video. The lecture provides information to introduce UML as a tool for software engineers. After watching the video, write a summary that answers the following question: what is UML?
3.2.1: Use Case Diagrams
- Watch this video. The lecture provides a discussion of the use case diagram in UML. Can you describe each component of a use case diagram?
3.2.2: State Diagrams
Watch this video. The lecture provides an overview of state machines and the state diagram in UML. What is the purpose of the state diagram?
3.2.3: Class Diagrams
Watch this video. The lecture provides a discussion of the class diagram in UML. What is the purpose of the class diagram?
3.2.4: Activity and Interaction Diagrams
Watch this video carefully as an example of modeling. What is the purpose of an activity diagram? How would you create an activity diagram?
3.3: Modeling Concepts
Watch this video. The lecture provides a discussion of using UML for object-oriented design.
3.4: UML 2.0
Read the article carefully. Compare the summary list of diagram types with your notes. UML 2.0 added three new diagrams: instance, role, and internal structure. An internet search for UML 2.0 diagrams will provide a number of examples, especially modeling software vendor sites.
End of Unit Assessment
Take this assessment to check your understanding of the materials presented in this unit.
Notes:
- There is no minimum required score to pass this assessment, and your score on this assessment will not factor into your overall course grade.
- This assessment is designed to prepare you for the Final Exam that will determine your course grade. Upon submission of your assessment you will be provided with the correct answers and/or other feedback meant to help in your understanding of the topics being assessed.
- You may attempt this assessment as many times as needed, whenever you would like.