Unified Modeling Language

Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a non-proprietary, third generation modeling language. The Unified Modeling Language is an open method used to specify, visualise, construct and document the artifacts of an object-oriented software-intensive system under development. The UML represents a compilation of "best engineering practices" which have proven successful in modelling large, complex systems.

UML succeeds the concepts of Booch, OMT and OOSE by fusing them into a single, common and widely usable modelling language. UML aims to be a standard modelling language which can model concurrent and distributed systems.

UML is not an industry standard, but is taking shape under the auspices of the Object Management Group (OMG). OMG has called for information on object-oriented methodologies, that might create a rigorous software modeling language. Many industry leaders have responded in earnest to help create the standard.

It is important to distinguish between a UML model, and a UML diagram, or set of diagrams--the later is a graphical representation of the information in the former, but the former exists independently. XMI in its current version provides interchange for the model, but not for the diagrams.

See also:

• Integrated Development Environment
• Object-modeling technique
• Object-oriented
• ArgoUml, an open source design tool
• XMI, a standard XML-based format for exchanging UML models.

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Article based on Unified Modeling Language (http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?query=unified+modeling+language) at FOLDOC (http://www.foldoc.org), used with permission.

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Message board for UML at [1] (http://pub56.ezboard.com/bumlwizards)