Practical Perspective on UML Diagrams in Software Engineering
By
prodigycorp
The kind of bagel that ruins lesser bagels for you.
Summary
The article presents a personal opinion on the use of UML (Unified Modeling Language) diagrams in software engineering. The author argues that while everyone in software development should be familiar with UML and understand how key diagram types work, it shouldn't be used religiously or dogmatically. The author emphasizes that diagrams serve as valuable communication tools for explaining high-level architecture, refining database schemas, documenting interaction flows, and visually identifying problem areas like components with excessive dependencies. The perspective is balanced, advocating for practical, situational use of diagrams rather than rigid adherence to UML standards.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledIn a nutshell: everyone should know about UML and how some relevant diagram types look. Nobody should use it religiously.
Diagrams are great tools for communicating ideas and implementations on an abstract level, and for interactively thinking about ideas that can be drawn in some way.
A diagram can also visually highlight problem areas (e.g., components with many dependencies).
Good use cases for diagrams in SE are e.g., explaining high-level architecture to someone, thinking about and refining database schemas, documenting interaction flows
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