IntroductionUML (Unified Modeling Language) is a graphical language for modeling the structure and behavior of object-oriented systems. UML is widely used in industry to design, develop and document complex software. This page will focus on creating UML class diagrams, which describe the internal structure of classes and relationships between classes. Show
For additional information beyond the usual suspects (your textbook and Wikipedia), see UML Basics: The Class Diagram. ClassesA class diagram contains a rectangle for each class. It is divided into three parts.
For example, a Person class and a Book class might be modeled like this. This indicates that a Person object has private fields named name and birthDate, and that it has public methods named getName, setName and isBirthday. A Book object has private fields named title and authors. A Book object also has public methods named getTitle, getAuthors and addAuthor. The examples below also model a Person class and Book class, but only shows fields or methods as needed for illustration. Use RelationshipsOften, objects and/or methods of one class use objects/methods from another class. For example, a person might read and/or own a book, and these relationships might be modeled in the UML diagram, so that they will be implemented in the corresponding program. UML class diagrams include the following types of use-relationships, in order from weakest to strongest.
Inheritance RelationshipsThe inheritance relationships in UML match up very closely with inheritance in Java. Introduction to Class DiagramThe class diagram is one of the types of UML diagrams which is used to represent the static diagram by mapping the structure of the systems using classes, attributes, relations, and operations between the various objects. A class diagram has various classes; each has three-part; the first partition contains a Class name which is the name of the class or entity which is participated in the activity, the Second partition contains class attributes that show the various properties of the class, the third partition contains class operations which shows various operations performed by the class, relationships shows the relation between two classes. RelationshipsIn a class diagram, it is necessary that there exists a relationship between the classes. Unfortunately, the similarity of various relationships often makes it difficult to understand them. Below are the relationships which exist in a class diagram. 1. AssociationBetween two other classes in an association relationship, an association class forms a part of it. Additional information about the relationship could be obtained by attaching the association relationship with the association class. Various operations, attributes, etc., are present in the association class. The below diagram shows an association between bank and account. 2. MultiplicityThe number of elements or cardinality could be defined by multiplicity. It is one of the most misunderstood relationships which describes the number of instances allowed for a particular element by providing an inclusive non-negative integers interval. It has both lower and upper bound. For example, a bank would have many accounts registered to it. Thus near the account class, a star sign is present. 3. Directed AssociationThis is a one-directional relationship in a class diagram that ensures the flow of control from one to another classifier. The navigability is specified by one of the association ends. The relationship between two classifiers could be described by naming any association. An arrow indicates the direction of navigation. The below example shows an arrowhead relationship between the container and the contained. 4. Reflexive AssociationThe association of a class to itself is known as Reflexive association, which could be divided into Symmetric and Asymmetric type associations. In Symmetric reflexive association, the semantics of each association end has no logical difference, whereas, in Asymmetric Reflexive Association, the associated class is the same, but there is a semantic difference between the ends of the association. 5. AggregationIn this type of relationship, a more complex object is created by assembling different objects together. The interaction within the different groups of objects is defined by Aggregation. The integrity of the objects is protected, and the response of the assembled objects is decided by the control object. In aggregation, the classes nurture the ‘has a relationship. 6. CompositionIt is a form of aggregation which represents the whole-part relationship. Here, the part classifier lifetime is dependent on the whole classifier lifetime. In a class, a strong life-cycle is represented by the composition relationship. There is usually a one-direction flow of data here. It is generally indicated by a solid line. 7. GeneralizationIn this kind of relationship, the child model is based on the parent model. The relationship is used to describe various use-case diagrams and ensures that the child class receives the properties present in the parent. The child model could reuse the attributes of the parent model with the help of the generalization relationship. Hence the distinct attributes need to be defined only in the child; the rest it would inherit from the parent. There could be single parents, multiple children, or multiple parents, single child characteristics in this relationship. There are no names in the generalization relationships. It is also known as the ‘is a relationship. 8. RealizationThe behavior of one model element is realized by the specified behavior of another model element. This type of relationship doesn’t have any names. Why Should we Use Class Diagram?The structure of a system is defined by a Class Diagram by showing its attributes, relationships among objects, and so on. It is the backbone of object-oriented modeling and could also be used for Data modeling. Class Diagrams help in making pre-plans which eases the programming process. Moreover, you could always make changes to the Class Diagram as it’s kind of annoying to code different functionality after facts. It is a design plan based on which a system is built. It is easy to understand without much technical knowledge required. Class Diagram provides a static view of the application, and its mapping ability with object-oriented language makes it ready to be used in construction. Unlike the sequence diagram, activity diagram, etc., the class diagram is the most popular UML diagram. Below is the purpose of a Class diagram.
Types of Class DiagramClass Diagram could be divided into three components:
Moreover, a UML is divided into Behavioural and Structural Diagram with Class Diagram falling under the Structural diagram. Advantages of Class DiagramA class diagram could be implemented in different phases of a project and is the heart of the UML. A representation of reality is created by the class diagram by appearing on the domain model during analysis. The software modeling is done during the design phase, whereas the code is generated during the implementation phase. The foundation of software products is the class diagrams which are an essential part of any project. A sense of orientation is given by the class diagrams. The structure of the system is analyzed in detail by the class diagram, and also the synergy among different elements is overviewed by them along with their properties. It is fast and easy to read and could be created easily if the right software is in place. Any system that needs to be created, the class diagrams form the foundation for that. Benefits
Disadvantages of Class DiagramThough Class Diagram is the first thing to consider in a production environment to build a flawless system, it certainly has its fair share of cons as well.
As you can see, despite the importance of the Class Diagram in the software development life cycle, it is certainly not without any shortcomings and could make life difficult for the developers and companies if not used wisely. Example of Class DiagramWithout the fuss of technical constraints, a diagram is fairly easy to create. To use an ATM, it is only required for a customer to press a few buttons to get their cash. Despite the ease with which the cash flows out, the backend system has multiple layers of security which needed to be passed to prevention in fraud, money laundering, and so on. As seen over here, there are several entities that follow the properties of different relationships as described earlier. These relationships describe the structure in which an ATM system is built and the layers of security it has to pass through to ensure transparency and integrity in the transaction. There are three perspectives in which the class diagram could be divided:
Working with Class DiagramFor software development, the most important UML diagram is the Class Diagram. To draw a class diagram representing various aspects of an application, a few of the properties which needs to be considered are:
How will this Technology help you in Career Growth?If you are in the software industry, it is imperative that you need to define the structure of your problem beforehand to build a good product. A class diagram helps in understanding the different aspects of a project lifecycle and helps in understanding the relationship within the elements in the code. ConclusionTo design and visualize the software system artifacts, the standard language used is the UML. The relationship between the different objects is described by the class diagram, which ensures the design and analysis of an application and views it in its static form. Being the most important UML diagram, the class diagram consists of class, attributes, and relationships, which are its essential elements. To get an idea of the application structure, the class diagram is used, which helps in reducing the maintenance time. Recommended ArticlesThis article has been a guide to Class Diagram. Here we discuss the basic concepts with relationships and different type of class diagram. You can also go through our other suggested articles to learn more –
What are relationships between classes called in UML class diagrams?In UML models, an association is a relationship between two classifiers, such as classes or use cases, that describes the reasons for the relationship and the rules that govern the relationship. In UML diagrams, an association class is a class that is part of an association relationship between two other classes.
What are the 3 relationships that can be shown in UML diagram define them?Since it is termed as a link, it demonstrates how things are interrelated to each other at the time of system execution. It constitutes four types of relationships, i.e., dependency, association, generalization, and realization.
What are the different types of relationship between classes?This reusability is possible due to the relationship b/w the classes. Object oriented programming generally support 4 types of relationships that are: inheritance , association, composition and aggregation. All these relationship is based on "is a" relationship, "has-a" relationship and "part-of" relationship.
What are relationships called in UML?Relationships in UML are used to represent a connection between structural, behavioral, or grouping things. It is also called a link that describes how two or more things can relate to each other during the execution of a system. Type of UML Relationship are Association, Dependency , Generalization , and Realization.
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