Reading Response for Lecture 10

These passages from Larman cover the remaining diagrams which are standard in UML.

Below is a list of the readings for this class with some suggestions on how to approach them. Please create a post in this discussion consisting of at least 200 words discussing any issue from the required reading for the week.  See the Reading Response Grading Rubric for details about how posts will be graded.

The Readings

Larman Chapter 13 through section 13.5 and 13.6 up to "Benefits of Using Layers": Logical Architecture and UML Package Diagrams. Package diagrams can be especially useful when dealing with big systems because they can group use cases or classes into manageable chunks. Even better, such diagrams can be used to describe the overall architecture of a system.

Larman Chapter 29: UML State Machine Diagrams and Modeling. State machine diagrams show the dynamics of the system by showing the state of various components of the system and how it evolves in response to certain events. An interesting question here is how exactly are state diagrams different from sequence diagrams? When would you use each kind of diagram. I will address this in class, but it is worth keeping in mind as you read this chapter.

Larman Chapter 38: UML Deployment and Component Diagrams. To indulge in a possibly obscure and questionable analogy, if UML were the Gilligan's Island TV show, then these two diagrams would be "and the rest" – end of obscure cultural reference. Questions to think about: how are these different from each other? When would diagrams like this add value?  Stay tuned:  Peter Salvitti, BC's Chief Technologist, who will be speaking to the class in April, finds these diagrams extremely helpful (despite their brief treatment in Larman).