Chapter 3 - Where's the UML going?

Abstract

This chapter reviews the development of the unified modeling language (UML) notation. The chapter considers the “advanced features” of the UML, for example, “profiles” and “extensions.” It provides a brief history of the evolution of the UML and describes how it is changing and what can be expected in the future. Object orientation began as a feature within programming languages, notably SIMULA 67, which introduced the idea of classes and instances as a way of encapsulating data structures, along with inheritance as a mechanism for generalization. This was formally referred to as “data abstraction.” The appearance and popularity of programming languages, such as Smalltalk and C++, created a need for appropriate design languages within the developing community of OO programmers. By the mid-1990s, new versions began to appear—namely, Booch's methodology, object modeling technique (OMT) and object-oriented software engineering (OOSE). Two major contributions to the UML in the form of incorporation of pre-existing modeling views include “sequence diagrams” and “statecharts.” The efforts of Booch, Rumbaugh, and Jacobson resulted in the release of the UML 0.9 and 0.91 documents in June and October of 1996. The development of further versions of the UML standard is a result of the combined efforts of an Object Management Group (OMG) committee, which includes representatives of various companies including Rational (now owned by IBM), who maintain a keen interest in developments. The key features such as object constraint language (OCL), action semantics, and profile, aim to add to the expressiveness of UML. In mid-2001 OMG members started work on a major upgrade that was intended to lead to UML 2.0..