Glossary of Unified Modeling Language (UML) terms provides a compilation of terminology used in all versions of UML, along with their definitions. Any notable distinctions that may exist between versions are noted with the individual entry it applies to.
A Abstract - An indicator applied to a classifier (e.g., actor, class, use case) or to some features of a classifier (e.g., a class's operations) showing that the feature is incomplete and is intended not to be instantiated, but to be specialized by other definitions. Abstract class - A class that does not provide a complete declaration, perhaps because it has no implementation method identified for an operation. By declaring a class as abstract, one intends to prohibit direct instantiation of the class. An abstract class cannot directly instantiate objects; it must be inherited from before it can be used. Abstract data type Abstract operation - Unlike attributes, class operations can be abstract, meaning that there is no provided implementation. Generally, a class containing an abstract operation should be marked as an abstract class. An Operation must have a method supplied in some specialized Class before it can be used. Abstraction is the process of picking out common features and deriving essential characteristics from objects and procedure entities that distinguish it from other kinds of entities. Action - An action is the fundamental unit of behaviour specification and represents some transformation or processing in the modeled system, such as invoking a method of a class or a sub activity Action sequence - Action state - Action steps - Activation - the time during which an object has a method executing. It is often indicated by a thin box or bar superimposed on the Object's lifeline in a Sequence Diagram Activity diagram - a diagram that describes procedural logic, business process or work flow. An activity diagram contains a number of Activities and connected by Control Flows and Object Flows. Active class - a class defining active objects Active object - an object running under its own thread Activity - carrying out behaviour in a State machine diagram Do - a type of Activity which may be interrupted, as opposed to normal Activities which may not be interrupted Internal - an Activity that is executed within a State Entry - an Activity that is executed when a State is entered Exit - an Activity that is executed when a State is exited Activity final - the end point of an activity diagram. When a thread reaches an Activity Final node, all the threads of the activity terminate. (Contrast with Flow Final node, which marks the end of one thread.) Actor - a role that a user takes when invoking a use case. Also see actor modeling. Aggregation - 1. a special type of association used to represent a stronger relationship between two classes than a regular association; typically read as "owns a", as in, "Class A owns a Class B". A hierarchy of classes where the child object may or may not continue to exist if the parent object is destroyed; see 'composition'. 2. An aggregation is a structural relationship that specifies that one class represents a large thing which constitute of smaller things and represents "has-a" relationship. Artifact - items that model physical pieces of information in your system, such as a user's manual, training material, or password file Association - 1. a relationship with 2 or more ends, where each end is on a class (or other classifier). Each end is called a Role, and may have a role name, Multiplicity, and may be Navigable. 2. An association is a structural relationship that specifies that the objects of one thing are connected with the objects of another. Association class - a class that describes an association. Asynchronous - The sender of an asynchronous message does not wait for a response. Attribute - a significant piece of data owned by a Class, often containing values describing each instance of the class. Besides the attribute name and a slot for the attribute value, an attribute may have specified Visibility, Type, Multiplicity, Default value, and Property-string.
B Block - Block is a place where all the aggregates are collected at one place BPM - Business Process Model, is used to define the process followed by the business. It is a high level design for the business process. BPMN - Business Process Modelling Notations, are used to define the process on paper with the help of predefined shapes of UML.
C Call - Cardinality - the current number of occurrences of a Property. The cardinality must be a value that is allowed by the multiplicity Child - Class - the primary declarative construct of object-oriented programming; a cohesive unit of Attributes and Operations; a compile-time template for an Object Class diagram - a type of static structure diagram that describes the structure of a system by showing the system's classes, their attributes and the relationships between the classes. Classifier - a category of UML elements that have some common features, such as attributes or methods. Client - Collaboration - A collaboration is a society of classes, interfaces and other elements that work together to provide some cooperative behavior that is bigger than the sum of its parts. Communication diagram Component - A component represents a software module (source code, binary code, executable, DLL, etc.) with a well-defined interface. The interface of a component is represented by one or several interface elements that the component provides. Components are used to show compiler and run-time dependencies, as well as interface and calling dependencies among software modules. They also show which components implement a specific class. Component diagram Composite structure diagram Composition - a specific type of relationship describing how one Object is composed of another Object; a form of Aggregation where the child object is destroyed if the parent object is destroyed. Condition - Connection - Constraint - natural language, programming language or Object Constraint Language Boolean condition which may not be false if a Class is to be considered valid Containment - containment by value and containment by reference. Containment by value implies that an object contains another object; containment by reference implies that an object contains a pointer to another object.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
