UML

Class Diagrams: Basic Concepts

Extracted from textbook:
Object Oriented Modeling and Design with UML
M. Blaha, J. Rumbaugh
 Objects

– The purpose of class modeling is to describe

objects.
– An object is a concept, abstraction or thing that
has meaning for a domain/application.
– Some objects have real world counterparts while
others are conceptual entities.
– The choice of objects depends on judgment and
the nature of problem.
– ِAll objects have identity and are distinguishable.
 Classes

– An object is an instance – occurrence – of a

class
– ِ A class describes a group of objects with the same
properties (attributes), behavior (operations), kinds of
relationships, and semantics.

– The objects in a class share a common semantic purpose,

above and beyond the requirement of common attributes
and behavior.

– By grouping objects onto classes we abstract a problem.

 UML representation of
classes/objects:
• UML: Unified Modeling Language (OMG Standard):
O.O Visual Modeling language

• Class/object representation
 Values and attributes

• Value : piece of data.

• Attribute: a named property of a class that describes
a value held by each object of the class.

– Attributes may be discovered by looking for adjectives or

by abstracting typical values.

– Don’t confuse values with objects:

• An attribute should describe values, not objects.
• Unlike objects, values lac identity
UML representation
 Object identifiers

• Objects identifiers are implicit.

• Objects belonging to the same and having the same
attributes values may be different individual objects.
 Operations and Methods

• An operation is a function or procedure that may be applied to

or by objects in a class.

• Each operation has a target object as an implicit parameter.

• All objects in a class share the same operations.

• The behavior of the operation depends on the class of its

target.

• The same operation may apply to many different classes. Such

an operation is POLYMORPHIC.
 Operations and Methods

• A method is the implementation of an operation for

a class.
• A different piece of code may implement each
method.
• An operation may have arguments in addition to its
target object. These arguments may be placeholders
for values and/or for objects.
• When an operation has methods on several classes
these methods must have the same SIGNATURE:
number and types of arguments, type of result value.
UML representation
 Links and Association concepts

• A link is a physical or conceptual connection among

objects.
• Most links relate two objects, but some links relate three
or more objects.
• A link is defined as a tuple, that is a list of objects.
• A link is an instance of an association.
• An association is a description of a group of links with
common structure and semantics.
• Association is denoted by a line. Its name is optional if
the model is unambigious.
Examples
• Associations are inherently bi-directional. The
association name is usually read in a particular direction
but the binary association may be traversed in either
direction.

• ِ A reference is an attribute in one object that refers to

another object.
 Multiplicity

• It specifies the number of instances of one class that

may relate to a single instance of the associated class.

• UML diagrams explicitly list multiplicity at the end of

association lines.
• Intervals are used to express multiplicity:
– 1 (exactly one)
– 0..1 (zero or one)
– 1..* (one or more)
– 0..* (zero or more)
– 3..5 (three to five inclusive)
 Association Ends

• Associations have ends. They are called ‘Association

Ends’.
• They may have names (which often appear in problem
descriptions).
 Association Ends

• Use of association end names is optional.

• But association end names are useful for traversing associations.
• ِAssociation end names are necessary for for associations between
objects of the same class.
Example of association ends use
 Association: ordering, bag, sequence

• On a ‘many” association end, sometimes, it is required

that objects have an explicit order.
• In this case the ordering is an inherent part of the
association
• Example:
 Association: ordering, bag, sequence
• Ordinary a binary association has at most one link for a pair of
objects
• However we can permit multiple links for a pair of objects by
annotating an association end with {bag} or {sequence}
• A bag is a collection of elements with duplicates allowed.
• A sequence is an ordered collection of elements with duplicates
allowed
 Association class

• UML offers the ability to describe links of association with attributes

like any class.
• An association class is an association that is also a class.
 Association class

• Examples:
 Association class

• Example
 Qualified Association

• A qualified association is an association in which an attribute called

Qualifier disambiguates the objects for a ‘many’ association’ end.
• A qualifier selects among the target objects, reducing the effective
multiplicity fro ‘many’ to ‘one’.
• Both below models are acceptable but the qualified model adds
information.
 Qualified Association

• Example:
 Generalization/Inheritance

• Generalization is the relationship between a class (superclass) and

one or more variations of the class (subclasses).
• Generalization organizes classes by their similarities and their
differences, structuring the descriptions of objects.
• A superclass holds common attributes, attributes and associations.
• The subclasses adds specific attributes, operations, and
associations. They inherit the features of their superclass.
• Often Generalization is called a “IS A” relationship
• Simple generalization organizes classes into a hierarchy.
• A subclass may override a superclass feature (attribute default
values, operation) by redefining a feature with the same name.
• Never override the signature of methods.
 Use of generalization

• Used for three purposes:

– Support of polymorphism:
• polymorphism increases the flexibility of software.
• Adding a new subclass and automatically inheriting superclass
behavior.
– Structuring the description of objects:
• Forming a taxonomy (classification), organizing objects according to
their similarities. It is much more profound than modeling each class
individually and in isolation of other similar classes.

– Enabling code reuse:

• Reuse is more productive than repeatedly writing code from scratch.
 Aggregation

• Aggregation is a strong form of association in which

an aggregate object is made of constituent parts.
• The aggregate is semantically an extended object that is
treated as a UNIT in many operations, although
physically it is made of several lesser objects.

• Aggregation is a transitive relation:

– if A is a part od B and B is a part of C then A is also a part of C
• Aggregation is an antisymmetric relation:
– If A is a part of B then B is not a part of A.
 Aggregation versus Association

• Aggregation is a special form of association, not an independent

concept.
• Aggregation adds semantic connotations:
– If two objects are tightly bound by a part-whole relation it is an
aggregation.
– If the two objects are usually considered as independent, even though
they may often be linked, it is an association. ِ
• Discovering aggregation
– Would you use the phrase part of ?
– Do some operations on the whole automatically apply to its parts?
– Do some attributes values propagates from the whole to all or some
parts?
– Is there an asymmetry to the association, where one class is
subordinate to the other?
 Aggregation versus Composition

• Composition is a form of aggregation with additional

constraints:

– A constituent part can belong to at most one assembly (whole).

• it has a coincident lifetime with the assembly.
• Deletion of an assembly object triggers automatically a deletion of
all constituent objects via composition.

– Composition implies ownership of the parts by the whole.

• Parts cannot be shared by different wholes.
 Aggregation versus Composition

Composition is a strong form of aggregation

where:

• Deletion of a “whole” triggers automatically deletion of all

its “parts”. (Lifetime)

• “Parts” are included in at most one “whole” at a time.

(Sharing)
 Propagation of operations

• Propagation is the automatic application of an operation to a

network of objects when the operation is applied to some starting
object.
• Propagation of operations to parts is often a good indicator of
propagation.