Nowadays, Unified Modeling Language has made it easier to describe the software systems, business systems, and any other systems. Their graphics show an explanation with words and pictures also, which proves that UML is practical and anybody should be able to use it. UML first appeared in 1997 and its content is controlled by the Object Management Group. The primary contributors to UML are Grady Booch, James Rumbaugh, and Ivor Jacobson.

UML Basic Notation

Why UML?

UML has been able to unify the terminology and different notations, which leads to a great communication between all parties, on different departments of any company. It is also much easier for co-workers to get access or transfer information, while they are working on the same project. UML seems to be a very powerful modeling language, which makes it perfect to use, even for small projects. Stereotypes can extend its functionality if it is not sufficient for some kind of projects. UML did not come from anywhere, it started from real-world problems with existing modeling language that needed modification or transformation. This is why it is widely supported because it guarantees usability and functionality, based on real-life problems.

UML 2.0 defines 13 different types of diagrams, where each of them may be expressed with different details. They are classified into three categories: Structural diagrams, The Behavioral Diagrams, and The Interaction Diagrams.

–          The Structural Diagrams represent elements that are static in nature and they can be fundamental to the UML modeling of a system. This contains:

The Class diagram, The Component diagram, The Composite Structure diagram, The Deployment diagram, The Object diagram, The Package diagram.

–          The Behavioral Diagrams represent the modeling of how the system functions. This contains:

Use Case Diagram, Activity Diagram, State Machine Diagram.

–          The Interaction Diagrams represent how the flow of data and control work on the modeling system. This contains:

Communication Diagram, Sequence Diagram, UML Timing Diagram, Interaction Overview Diagram,

As a conclusion, the Unified Modeling Language is an internationally accepted standard that is used for Object-Oriented Modeling and can be used to represent a model that adopts the best software architecture practices.

References:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/unified-modeling-language-uml-introduction/

From the blog CS@Worcester – Gloris's Blog by Gloris Pina and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Today I am going to discuss one of the software architectures: Hexagonal Architecture. Its purpose is to reduce the amount of time we need to maintain and modify the code, in order to improve the maintainability. The more we increase the maintainability, the less work is required to achieve the tasks. This software architecture is not called “Hexagonal” for no reason. It is actually represented by a hexagon which is very flexible, and it allows you to make changes anytime, because of the independent layers. Each side of the hexagon has an input, an output, and a domain model. The three components of a Hexagonal Architecture are Domain Model, Ports, and Adapters.

Since the Domain is placed in the middle of the hexagon, it makes the Domain the center layer of it, which works independently in the architecture. Also, the Domain Model is used to maintain all the business data and the rules related to that data.

Port is the way to get to the business logic, or in other words, it serves as an entry point. There exist primary and secondary ports. The primary ports are functions that allow you to make changes, and they get called by the primary adapters. The Secondary ports are the interfaces created for the secondary adapters, but other than the primary ports they get called by the core logic.

Adapter serves as a bridge to connect the application and the maintenance that is needed for this application. A primary adapter is an essential adapter which connects the user and the core logic through a piece of code. It might be a unit test for the core logic. A secondary adapter is an implementation of the secondary port (interface).

I found this article interesting because the writer knows who the audience is and explains everything in detail. Also, the topic is related to our CS-343 class and this might be a good start to get into the world of software architecture. Nowadays, we are looking for simplicity and flexibility and this is what Hexagonal Architecture is about. According to the article that I chose the benefits of a Hexagonal Architecture are:

– Agnostic to the outside world

– Independent from external services

– Easier to test in isolation

– Replaceable Ports and Adapters

– High Maintainability

Apparently, Hexagonal Architecture makes the work easier and more efficient, based on this article: https://apiumhub.com/tech-blog-barcelona/hexagonal-architecture/.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!

From the blog CS@Worcester – Gloris's Blog by Gloris Pina and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.