In the next video, you will be introduced to the UML language. You will learn what UML language is and why we need it.
In the previous video, you learned that UML or Unified Modeling Language is not a programming language but a standard way to visualize the design of your system. It is used to design systems using visual representations and diagrams. It is divided into categories:
Now we have been seeing about what and why of object oriented analysis and design. So now, moving on the next step we'll see about how do I do it. Now, let's say today we as humans speak lot of many languages. Somebody speaks French, some speak Spanish, some speak English, we all speak different languages. But it's humanly not possible for somebody to understand all the languages. How do we communicate them? So one of these very fundamental mode of communication that has been working is more of symbols and signs. So in terms of object oriented analysis and design as well, we align to the same way of visual representation. For example, you might go across different countries and different places. If I had to write everywhere the traffic rules in terms of their local languages, would anybody be able to travel from one place to other? The common procedure is we use symbols everywhere you go for traffic purposes, there are symbols where you take a free left or no parking and speed limits. Everything are represented with symbols. That makes it easy for everybody to understand even though they may not know the language. So we would even in object oriented analysis adhere to the same approach of representing what is there in our mind to convey using symbols so that it's easy to understand and there's no confusion. We are all on same page. So, in order to do object analysis through symbols, the standard procedure used is what we call as UML, which stands for unified modeling language.
So unified modeling language is not a programming language, it's just a visual representation through symbols and diagrams to help people understand and design a software product. Unified modeling language can broadly be categorized into two categories. One is behavioral,another is structural.
So behavioral largely talks about the dynamicity of a product while structural talks largely about the static nature of a product. When we talk about architecture, the blocks that are going to be fixed and the way they are placed is more about structural. But the way different modules interact, the dynamicity of the product defines the behavioral. So if I have to talk about behavioral represents the dynamicity of a software product while structural demonstrates the static nature of a product. As part of this module, we will look into one of the most commonly popularly used UML languages in these categories, which is more industry relevant. In terms of structural, one of the most commonly used is the class diagram. And in behavioral very popular used are which I would call it as use case diagram, activity diagram and sequence diagram.
Object-oriented analysis and design uses symbols and signs to represent ideas, similar to how different languages are communicated.
Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a visual representation of these symbols and diagrams used to design software products.
UML can be categorized into two categories: behavioral and structural.
Behavioral UML focuses on the dynamicity of a product, while structural UML focuses on the static nature of a product.
Popular UML diagrams include the class diagram, use case diagram, activity diagram, and sequence diagram.
Now you are familiar with UML and its categorisation. UML is used to view your system in a simplified way using symbols and diagrams.