What is UML?

UML Diagrams – as a CS major at a university I realize that sooner or later I would have heard something about it and had to work with it, on that subject even though I am already a little bit familiar I found myself a little bit lacking in knowledge because I simply didn’t have to deal with it too much. To help me familiarize myself with them I stared browsing the net and stumbled upon this blog by Noel Ceta on Tallyfy website, which helped me to understand the topic a little bit more.

                This blog goes into some details about different types of UML diagrams and what are they best used as well as how they look and present. It gives some examples on each one of them which helps a lot to help and differentiate between them. It helped me. Even though I am supposed to use UML at work because it helps with documentation, I rarely do due to the time constraints of the projects I work on and honestly nobody makes it a big issue, which is a problem, I think.

Noel in his blog uses one of the descriptions of UML as follows: “Sketch – UML diagrams, in this case, are used to communicate different aspects and characteristics of a system. However, this is only a top-level view of the system and will most probably not include all the necessary details to execute the project until the very end.

Forward Design – The design of the sketch is done before coding the application. This is done to get a better view of the system or workflow that you are trying to create. Many design issues or flaws can be revealed, thus improving the overall project health and well-being.

Backward Design – After writing the code, the UML diagrams are drawn as a form of documentation for the different activities, roles, actors, and workflows.”. This description really fits with what I think UML is and how it should be used.

                Over all this blog post is a good way to introduce people to UML and show them what a powerful tool they can be if, like in my own life’s example, they are used and people spend time to work with the design of their software starting with UML. I believe everybody should learn about this because not only CS majors will find it useful but others as well, for example a business person who can describe the relationships in their business to better understand it or to describe it to others.