UML

Timing Diagram
How to use UML diagrams to design software system?
Timing diagrams
 Timing diagram
• Defines the behavior of different objects within a
time-scale
• Provides a visual representation of objects
changing state and interacting over time.
 Timing diagram
• Timing diagrams shows the behavior of the
objects in a given period of time.
• Timing diagram is a special form of a sequence
diagram.
• The differences between timing diagram and
sequence diagram are the axes are reversed
so that the time are increase from left to right
and the lifelines are shown in separate
compartments arranged vertically.
 Timing diagram
• Timing Diagrams are used to show interactions
when a primary purpose of the diagram is to
reason about time.
• Timing diagrams focus on conditions changing
within and among Lifelines along a linear time
axis.
• Timing diagrams describe behavior of both
individual classifiers and interactions of
classifiers, focusing attention on time of
occurrence of events causing changes in the
modeled conditions of the Lifelines..
 Interaction Diagram: Timing Diagram
To explore the behaviors of 0..* objects throughout a given period of
time.
Two basic flavors: concise notation and robust notation

critical
states

Timing
constraints

The lifecycle of a single seminar

The critical states – Proposed, Scheduled, Enrolling Students, Being Taught, Final Exams, Closed
The two lines surrounding the states are called a general value lifeline.
 When the two lines cross one another it indicates a transition point between states.
 Timing constraints along the bottom of the diagram,
indicating the period of time during which the seminar is in each state.
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 Interaction Diagram: Timing Diagram (robust notation)

states

state timeline

transition point

timing ruler w. tick marks

Can you transform this into a concise notation? Where would you use them?
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Timing diagram
Timing diagram
Interaction Diagram: Timing Diagram (robust notation)
A frame to bound the two lifelines

events/stimuli
timing constraint
states/conditions

timing observation
transition point
state timeline

message

state timeline

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timing ruler w. tick marks
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Timing diagram
 What UML Modeling tools we use today?

• List of UML tools http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UML_tools

• StarUML
• Microsoft Visio
• ArgoUML
 Acknowledgements
 Object-Oriented and Classical Software Engineering, Sixth Edition,
WCB/McGraw-Hill, 2005 Stephen R. Schach

 UML resource page http://www.uml.org/