Software Design & Architecture

UML : Class Diagram

It is a static structure diagram that describes the

structure of a system by showing the
system's classes, their attributes, and the
relationships between the classes.

The class diagram is the main building block

in object oriented modelling
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Class Diagram

The classes in a class diagram represent both the

main objects and or interactions in the application
and the objects to be programmed
• A Class diagram is used to display the classes in
your system. It gives you a static picture of the
pieces in the system and relationships between
them.
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Generic Structure of Class

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Sample Class
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Visibility of Variables
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Relationships between Classes

Association

Aggregation

Composition

Inheritance
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Association
It represents a linkage between two classes.
Associations are bi-directional i-e both classes
are involved in a relationship
 The line is drawn from the containing to the
contained class
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Association Example
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Multiplicity

Identify how many instance of a class can be initiated

against other class.

Represent cardinality of the class in relationship to

another class.

It represent business constraint which will be

implemented in the software
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Example
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Bi-Directional Association Example

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Association - Multiplicity
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Multiplicity
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Uni-Directional Association

 In the diagram below PersonName class know

about Telephone# class but not the other way
around.
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Relationships between Classes

Association

Aggregation

Composition

Inheritance
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Aggregation or “ has –a “ relationship

Specialized form of association i-e Weak Association.

Assembling a class from other classes.

Aggregation is a special type of relationship used

to model a "whole to its parts" relationship

Part class is independent from the whole class's

lifecycle.
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Aggregation
 In an aggregation relationship, the child class instance can
outlive its parent class.

 Child class can be a part of multiple parent classes.

 To represent an aggregation relationship, you draw a solid

line from the parent class to the part class, and draw an
unfilled diamond shape on the parent class's association
end
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Example
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Aggregation Example
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Example
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Example – Aggregation and Multiplicity

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Composition – Container and Contained classes

It’s a strong association.

It contain Objects that live and die together.

The composition aggregation relationship is just

another form of the aggregation relationship, but the
child class's instance lifecycle is dependent on the
parent class's instance lifecycle
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Composition Continues....

Another important feature of composition

aggregation is that the part class can only be
related to one instance of the parent class
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Composition Continues....

Another important feature of composition

aggregation is that the part class can only be
related to one instance of the parent class

It is represented by a filled diamond shape from

child to parent class with association
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Example of Composition
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Example of Composition
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Example
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Windows Operating Systems

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Aggregation Vs Composition
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Generalization or “IS-A” relationship

It shows a relationship between super / sub class.

Sub class inherit public and protected elements of super class.

Sub class may override the behaviour of super class.

Super Class and Sub classes are related by drawing Arrow

from sub towards super class.
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Generalization / Specialization

Common data elements and methods are put

together in super class (Generalization) and

specific data elements are put together in sub

classes (Specialization)
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Conceptual Generalization
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Generalization Example

Role

attributes
operations

Faculty Student Staff Visitor

attributes attributes attributes attributes

operations operations operations operations

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Example
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Poor Generalization Example
(violates the “is a” or “is a kind of” heuristic)

Person
attributes
operations

Arm Leg Head

attributes attributes attributes

operations operations operations