UML (Unified Modeling Language) is a diagramming language used for object-oriented programming. It can be used to describe the organization, execution, use, and deployment of a program. Design patterns describe common solutions to programming problems and always use UML diagrams. This document focuses on class diagrams, which show classes, interfaces, and their relationships. It provides examples of how to represent classes, variables, methods, and relationships like inheritance in a UML class diagram.