Introduction to Software
Engineering |
Lecture 5 – System
Modeling |
Topics
covered
· Context
models
· Interaction
models
· Structural
models
· Behavioral
models
· Model-driven
engineering
System
modeling
· System
modeling is the process of developing abstract models of a system, with each
model presenting a different view or perspective of that system.
· System
modeling has now come to mean representing a system using some kind of
graphical notation, which is now almost always based on notations in the
Unified Modeling Language (UML).
· System modelling helps the analyst to understand
the functionality of the system and models are used to communicate with
customers.
Existing and planned system
models
· Models
of the existing system are used during requirements engineering. They help
clarify what the existing system does and can be used as a basis for discussing
its strengths and weaknesses. These then lead to requirements for the new
system.
· Models
of the new system are used during requirements engineering to help explain the
proposed requirements to other system stakeholders. Engineers use these models
to discuss design proposals and to document the system for implementation.
· In
a model-driven engineering process, it is possible to generate a complete or
partial system implementation from the system model.
System perspectives
· An external perspective,
where you model the context or environment of the system.
· An
interaction
perspective, where you model the interactions between a system
and its environment, or between the components of a system.
· A
structural
perspective, where you model the organization of a system or
the structure of the data that is processed by the system.
· A
behavioral
perspective, where you model the dynamic behavior of the
system and how it responds to events.
UML
diagram types
· Activity diagrams,
which show the activities involved in a process or in data processing
.
· Use case diagrams,
which show the interactions between a system and its environment.
· Sequence diagrams,
which show interactions between actors and the system and between system
components.
· Class diagrams,
which show the object classes in the system and the associations between these
classes.
· State diagrams,
which show how the system reacts to internal and external events.
Use
of graphical models
·
As a means of facilitating discussion about an
existing or proposed system
§
Incomplete and incorrect models are OK as their
role is to support discussion.
·
As a way of documenting an existing system
§
Models should be an accurate representation of the
system but need not be complete.
·
As a detailed system description that can be used
to generate a system implementation
§
Models have to be both correct and complete.
Context models
· Context models are used to illustrate the
operational context of a system - they show what lies outside the system
boundaries.
· Social and organisational concerns may affect the
decision on where to position system boundaries.
· Architectural models show the system and its
relationship with other systems.
System
boundaries
·
System boundaries are established to define what is
inside and what is outside the system.
§
They show other systems that are used or depend on
the system being developed.
·
The position of the system boundary has a profound
effect on the system requirements.
·
Defining a system boundary is a political judgment
§
There may be pressures to develop system boundaries
that increase / decrease the influence or workload of different parts of an
organization.
The
context of the MHC-PMS
Process
perspective
· Context models simply show
the other systems in the environment, not how the system being developed is
used in that environment.
· Process models reveal how
the system being developed is used in broader business processes.
· UML activity diagrams
may be used to define business process models.
Process
model of involuntary detention
Interaction
models
· Modeling
user interaction is important
as it helps to identify user requirements.
· Modeling
system-to-system interaction highlights
the communication problems that may arise.
· Modeling
component interaction helps
us understand if a proposed system structure is likely to deliver the required
system performance and dependability.
· Use case diagrams and sequence diagrams may be used for interaction modelling.
Use
case modeling
· Use
cases were developed originally to support requirements elicitation and now
incorporated into the UML.
· Each
use case represents a discrete task that involves external interaction with a
system.
· Actors
in a use case may be people or other systems.
· Represented
diagrammatically to provide an overview of the use case and in a more detailed
textual form.
Transfer-data
use case
Tabular
description of the ‘Transfer data’ use-case
MHC-PMS: Transfer data |
|
Actors |
Medical receptionist, patient records system
(PRS) |
Description |
A receptionist may transfer data from the MHC-PMS
to a general patient record database that is maintained by a health
authority. The information transferred may either be updated personal
information (address, phone number, etc.) or a summary of the patient’s
diagnosis and treatment. |
Data |
Patient’s personal information, treatment summary |
Stimulus |
User command issued by medical receptionist |
Response |
Confirmation that PRS has been updated |
Comments |
The receptionist must have appropriate security permissions
to access the patient information and the PRS. |
Use
cases in the MHC-PMS involving the role ‘Medical Receptionist’
Sequence
diagrams
· Sequence
diagrams are part of the UML and are used to model the interactions between the
actors and the objects within a system.
· A
sequence diagram shows the sequence of interactions that take place during a
particular use case or use case instance.
· The
objects and actors involved are listed along the top of the diagram, with a dotted
line drawn vertically from these.
· Interactions
between objects are indicated by annotated arrows.
Sequence
diagram for View patient information
Sequence
diagram for Transfer Data
Structural
models
· Structural
models of software display the organization of a system in terms of
the components that make up that system and their relationships.
· Structural
models may be static models, which show
the structure of the system design, or dynamic models, which show the
organization of the system when it is executing.
· You
create structural models of
a system when you are discussing and designing the system
architecture.
Class
diagrams
o Class
diagrams are used when developing an object-oriented system
model to show the classes in a system and the associations
between these classes.
o An
object class can be
thought of as a general definition of one kind
of system object.
o An
association is a link between classes that
indicates that there is some relationship between these classes.
o When
you are developing models during the early stages
of the software engineering process, objects
represent something in the real world, such as a
patient, a prescription, doctor, etc.
UML
classes and association
Classes
and associations in the MHC-PMS
The
Consultation class
Key
points
· A model is an abstract view of a system that ignores system details. Complementary system models can be developed to
show the system’s context, interactions, structure and behavior.
·
Context models show how a system that is being modeled is
positioned in an environment with other systems and processes.
·
Use case diagrams
and sequence diagrams are used to describe the interactions between users
and systems in the system being designed. Use cases describe interactions
between a system and external actors; sequence diagrams add more information to
these by showing interactions between system objects.
· Structural
models show the organization and architecture of a system.
Class diagrams are used to define the static structure of classes in a system
and their associations.
Generalization
·
Generalization is an
everyday technique that we use to manage
complexity.
o Rather
than learn the detailed characteristics of every entity that we experience, we
place these entities in more general classes (animals, cars, houses, etc.) and
learn the characteristics of these classes.
o Allows
us to infer that different members of these classes have some common
characteristics e.g. squirrels and rats are rodents.
·
Modeling
systems -- examine the classes in a system to see if there is scope for
generalization.
·
In object-oriented languages, such as Java, generalization
is implemented using the class inheritance mechanisms
built into the language.
·
In a
generalization, the attributes and operations associated with higher-level
classes are also associated with the lower-level classes.
·
The
lower-level classes are subclasses inherit the attributes and operations from
their superclasses. These lower-level classes then
add more specific attributes and operations.
A generalization hierarchy
A generalization
hierarchy with added detail
Object class aggregation
models
· An aggregation model shows how classes that are
collections are composed of other classes.
· Aggregation models are similar to the part-of
relationship in semantic data models.
The
aggregation association
Behavioral
models
·
Behavioral models are models of
the dynamic behavior of a system
as it is executing. They show what happens or
what is supposed to happen when a system
responds to a stimulus from its environment.
·
You can think of these stimuli as being of two
types:
§
Data Some
data arrives that has to be processed by the system.
§
Events Some
event happens that triggers system processing. Events may have associated data,
although this is not always the case.
Data-driven
modeling
· Many
business systems are data-processing systems that are primarily driven by data.
· Controlled
by the data input to the system, with relatively little
external event processing.
· Data-driven
models show the sequence of actions involved
in processing input data and generating an associated output.
· They
are particularly useful during the analysis of requirements as they can be used
to show end-to-end processing in a system.
An
activity model of the insulin pump’s operation
Order
processing
Event-driven
modeling
o Real-time
systems are often event-driven,
with minimal data processing.
o Event-driven
modeling shows how a system responds to external and internal events.
o Based
on the assumption that a system has a finite number of states and that events
(stimuli) may cause a transition from one state to another.
State machine models
· Model behaviour of the system in response to external and internal events.
· Show system’s responses to stimuli so are often used for modelling
real-time systems.
· State machine models show system states as nodes and events as arcs between these nodes.
· When an event occurs, the system moves from one
state to another.
· Statecharts are an integral part of the UML and are used to
represent state machine models.
State
diagram of a microwave oven
States
and stimuli for the microwave oven
State |
Description |
Waiting |
The oven is waiting for input. The display shows
the current time. |
Half power |
The oven power is set to 300 watts. The display
shows ‘Half power’. |
Full power |
The oven power is set to 600 watts. The display shows
‘Full power’. |
Set time |
The cooking time is set to the user’s input
value. The display shows the cooking time selected and is updated as the time
is set. |
Disabled |
Oven operation is disabled for safety. Interior oven
light is on. Display shows ‘Not ready’. |
Enabled |
Oven operation is enabled. Interior oven light is
off. Display shows ‘Ready to cook’. |
Operation |
Oven in operation. Interior oven light is on. Display
shows the timer countdown. On completion of cooking, the buzzer is sounded
for five seconds. Oven light is on. Display shows ‘Cooking complete’ while
buzzer is sounding. |
Stimulus |
Description |
Half power |
The user has pressed the half-power button. |
Full power |
The user has pressed the full-power button. |
Timer |
The user has pressed one of the timer buttons. |
Number |
The user has pressed a numeric key. |
Door open |
The oven door switch is not closed. |
Door closed |
The oven door switch is closed. |
Start |
The user has pressed the Start button. |
Cancel |
The user has pressed the Cancel button. |
Microwave
oven operation
Model-driven
engineering
· Model-driven
engineering (MDE) is an approach to software development where models
rather than programs are the principal outputs of the
development process.
· The
programs that execute
on a hardware/software platform are then generated
automatically from the models.
· Proponents
of MDE argue that this raises the level of abstraction in software engineering
so that engineers no longer have to be concerned with programming language
details or the specifics of execution platforms.
Usage
of model-driven engineering
·
Model-driven engineering is still at an early stage
of development, and it is unclear whether or not it will have a significant
effect on software engineering practice.
·
Pros
§
Allows systems to be considered at higher levels of abstraction
§
Generating code automatically means that it is cheaper to adapt systems
to new platforms.
·
Cons
§
Models for abstraction and not necessarily right for implementation.
§
Savings from generating code may be outweighed by the costs of
developing translators for new platforms.
Model
driven architecture
o Model-driven
architecture (MDA) was the precursor of more general
model-driven engineering
o MDA
is a model-focused approach to software design and implementation that uses a
subset of UML models to describe a system.
o Models
at different levels of abstraction are created. From a high-level, platform
independent model, it is possible, in principle, to generate a working program
without manual intervention.
Types
of model
·
A computation independent
model (CIM)
§
These model
the important domain abstractions used in a system. CIMs are sometimes called
domain models.
·
A platform independent model (PIM)
§
These model the operation of the system without
reference to its implementation. The PIM is usually described using UML models
that show the static system structure and how it responds to external and
internal events.
·
Platform specific models (PSM)
§
These are transformations of the
platform-independent model with a separate PSM for each application platform. In
principle, there may be layers of PSM, with each layer adding some
platform-specific detail.
MDA
transformations
Multiple
platform-specific models
Agile
methods and MDA
· The
developers of MDA claim that it is intended to support an iterative approach to
development and so can be used within agile methods.
· The
notion of extensive up-front modeling contradicts the fundamental ideas in the
agile manifesto and I suspect that few agile developers feel comfortable with
model-driven engineering.
· If
transformations can be completely automated and a complete program generated
from a PIM, then, in principle, MDA could be used in an agile development
process as no separate coding would be required.
Executable
UML
· The
fundamental notion behind model-driven engineering is that completely automated
transformation of models to code should be possible.
· This
is possible using a subset of UML 2, called Executable UML or xUML.
Features
of executable UML
·
To create an executable subset of UML, the number of
model types has therefore been dramatically reduced to these 3 key types:
§
Domain models that
identify the principal concerns in a system. They are defined using UML class
diagrams and include objects, attributes and associations.
§
Class
models in which classes are defined, along with their
attributes and operations.
§
State models in which a state diagram is associated with each
class and is used to describe the life cycle of the class.
·
The dynamic behaviour of the system may be specified declaratively using
the object constraint language (OCL), or may be expressed using UML’s action
language.
Key
points
· Behavioral models
are used to describe the dynamic behavior of an executing system. This behavior
can be modeled from the perspective of the data processed by the system, or by
the events that stimulate responses from a system.
· Activity diagrams
may be used to model the processing of data, where each activity represents one
process step.
· State diagrams are used to
model a system’s behavior in response to internal or external events.
· Model-driven engineering
is an approach to software development in which a system is represented as a
set of models that can be automatically transformed to executable code.