What Is UML?
The Unified Modeling Language was originally developed at Rational Software but is now administered by the Object Management Group . It is a modelling syntax aimed primarily at creating models of software-based systems, but can be used in a number of areas. UML is a very important part of developing object oriented software and the software development process. UML uses mostly graphical notations to express the design of software projects. Using UML helps project teams communicate, explore potential designs, and validate the architectural design of the software.
How UML Started?
UML came about when James Rumbaugh joined Grady Booch at Rational Software. They both had object oriented syntaxes and needed to combine them. Semantically they were very similar, it was mainly the symbols that needed to be unified. The result was UML 1.0
Then Ivar Jaconson joined them. He brought with him the syntax for use cases which was added in UML 1.1. The Object Management Group adopted the UML1.1 specification in November 1997 making it an independent industry standard. Some small changes were made in in versions 1.3 and 1.4. Version 2.0 is currently being researched.
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Goals of UML
The primary goals in the design of the UML were: 1. Provide users with a ready-to-use, expressive visual modeling language so they can develop and exchange meaningful models. 2. Provide extensibility and specialization mechanisms to extend the core concepts. 3. Be independent of particular programming languages and development processes. 4. Provide a formal basis for understanding the modeling language. 5. Encourage the growth of the OO tools market. 6. Support higher-level development concepts such