8.7 System Design

System Design with UML

• UML is a modern technique of system design and is used as documentation for all systems proposed in project tenders submitted to the British government.
• The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a language for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the features of systems.
• UML represents a collection of best engineering practices that have proven successful in the modeling of large and complex systems.
• UML uses graphical notations to express the design of system projects and helps project teams communicate, explore potential designs, and validate the architectural design of systems.
• The primary goals of UML were to provide users with a ready-to-use, expressive visual modeling language, provide extensibility and specialization mechanisms, be independent of particular programming languages and development processes, provide a formal basis for understanding the modeling language, support higher-level development concepts, and integrate best practices.
• UML diagrams are designed to let developers and customers view a system from a different perspective and in varying degrees of abstraction.
• There are six diagrams to be drawn for a UML conformant documentation, but in this module, only the interaction and the use case diagrams are needed.
• The UML use case diagrams display the relationship among actors (users) and use cases.
• Interaction diagrams consist of sequence diagrams and collaboration diagrams, with primary focus on use case and sequential interaction diagrams in this course.
• After the diagrams are drawn, the task to be executed is implemented using a combination of hardware and software that the computer has to do.
• Hardware testing should be done on each sub-system basis, using simple programs designed to fully test out the hardware, and modern instruments like Logic Analyzers and In-Circuit Emulators can be used.
• After the software code for each subsystem has been written and converted into machine code, it must be tested to verify that it functions correctly, and this requires a 'protected' environment to test the software, with the aim of minimizing the number of untested software codes which have to be checked during system integration.

Test your knowledge on System Design with UML by taking this quiz! Learn about the Unified Modeling Language, its uses, and the best engineering practices it employs for designing large and complex systems. Discover the different UML diagrams and their purpose, including the interaction and use case diagrams. Get a better understanding of the implementation process and the importance of hardware and software testing. This quiz is perfect for anyone interested in system design and wants to improve their knowledge on UML.