• Group together functionally-similar classes.
• Same as C++ namespace.
• identifies derivation. Classes/interfaces in "base" package are extended/implemented in "derived" package, etc. Derived classes need not be in the same package as base class, however.
• represents a dependency, typically stereotyped («import», «access», etc.).
• Package name is part of the class name. (e.g. given the class fred in the flintstone package, the fully-qualified class name is flintstone.fred).
• Generally needed when entire static-model won't fit on one sheet.
• Packages can nest. Outermost packages called domains if they contain only subpackages (no classes). (The tools package at left is an outer package; the com.holub package is a domain.) Nested packages can also be shown using a tree structure and static-model nested-class symbol (shown at right).

Packages are compile-time things, subsystems are run-time things. Don't confuse them — the similar notation is unfortunate. The classes that comprise the subsystem are often contained in a single package, but need not be. (The classes that define objects in the JDBC subsystem are defined in the java.sql package. I've shown relationship at left, but that's not standard UML.) Subsystems are identified as such by a symbol, which can be placed in the tab or body of the box.

The diagram at left shows both the standard and ball-and-socket-style interface notations. UML also lets you put into the box a static-model diagram showing the classes that comprise the subsystem. I've found that level of detail to be unnecessary in practice, so have not shown it.

• The stick-figure represents a role taken on by some actor (sometimes called simply "actor," but it's really a role).
• A line connects the actor/role to the use case in which it participates. You may use cardinality. (A Salesperson places many orders.)
• An is-specialization-of/generalizes relationship between actor/roles (denoted by ) indicates additional responsibilities. (A Supervisor has all the responsibilities of a Salesperson, but can also establish credit. A Supervisor can create an account, for example.)
• Dotted lines denote use-case dependencies. Common dependencies are:

  «equivalent»	Equivalent use cases have identical activities and identical flow, but end users think of them as different. ("Deposit" and "Withdrawal" might have identical activities, though the objects involved might be different.)
  «extends»	When extension extends base, all the activities of the base use case are also performed in the extension use case, but the extension use case adds additional activities to —or slightly modifies existing activities of—the base use case. (To place a recurring order, you must perform all the activities of placing an order plus set up the recurrence.) If a set of activities occur in several use cases, it's reasonable to "normalize" these common activities out into a base use case, and then extend it as necessary. Holub Extension: This relationship is really a form of derivation, so I use the derivation arrow () instead of a dashed line. As in a class diagram, the arrow points from the extension to the base use case.
  «includes»	A subcase. If case includes subcase, then the activities of subcase are performed one or more times in the course of performing case. (An "Authenticate" subcase may be included in several larger use cases, for example.) The subcase is usually represented in the using use case as a single box marked with the subcase name and the stereotype «use case».
  «requires» «follows»	If follower requires leader, then leader must be completed before you can execute the follower use case. (You must create an account before you can place an order.)
  «resembles»	Two use cases are very similar, but do have different activities.

The circle with an X represents an end of a "flow" but not the end of the entire use case. In other words, some subtask completes, but the entire use case is not yet complete.

The "target" indicates that the entire use case is complete.

You can label the join with a constraint (e.g. {joinspec= (A and B) or C}) to specify the condition that allows progress to continue. If there's no constraint, AND is assumed.

Generating signals: sent to outside process (Request Payment at left).
Accepting signals: received from outside process (Payment Received at left).
Timer signals: received when time elapses or a set time arrives (30 days... at left).

In the example at left, The invoice object is created during the receive-invoice activity and used by the process-invoice activity. The check object is created in the cut-check activity and is used by the send-payment activity. In this second case, you can also put boxes at both ends of the line.

You can indicate exactly how the object is used with a constraint. (e.g. {create}, {store}, etc.)

UML 2.x (bottom diagram at left) uses solid rather than dashed lines, and permits both horizontal and vertical (or both) delimitation. The upper left quadrant in the diagram at left represents accounting activities that happen in Paris.

• The dashed circle is UML, ver. 1.5. The grey box is Erich Gamma's notation, as presented in John Vlissides' book Pattern Hatching (Reading: Addison Wesley, 1998). Use one or the other.
• A single class can have different roles with respect to several patterns. In the bottom example, the class serves as both the "Concrete Observer" in the "Observer" pattern and also the "Real Subject" in the "Proxy" pattern. The UML notation can identify all participating classes if they happen to be in physical proximity.

1. The name compartment (required) contains the class name and other documentation-related information: E.g.:

   Some_class «abstract»
   
   { author:      George Jetson
     modified:    10/6/2999
     checked_out: y
   }
   

   • Guillemets identify stereotypes. E.g.: «utility», «abstract» «interface».
   • Can use a graphic instead of word.(«interface» often represented as small circle)
   • Access privileges (see below) can precede name
   • Use italics for abstract-class and interface names.
2. The attributes compartment (optional):
   • During Analysis: identify the attributes (i.e. defining characteristics) of the object.
   • During Design: identify a relationship to a stock class:
     This:
     
     is a more compact (and less informative) version of this:
     
     Everything except constant values must be private. Always. Period.
3. The operations compartment (optional) contains method definitions:

   message_name(arguments): return_type
   

   Resist the temptation to use implementation-language syntax.

   Visibility (access privileges) indicated as follows:¹
   

   ---

   +	public
   #	protected
   ~	package2
   –	private
   --	implementation visibility (inaccessible to other objects)2
   (+)	forced public. Override of an interface method that should be treated as private, even if it's declared public.2

   ---

   UML 2.0 permits C++-style grouping:

      public
         a(): int
         b(): void
      private
         c(): void
           

   Properties (new in UML 2.0.):

   /	Derived attribute. Synthesized at runtime. Combine with access. (e.g. -height, -width, /+area)
   {property}	Standard properties are: {readOnly}, {union}, {subsets property-name}, {redefines property-name}, {ordered}, {bag}, {seq} (or {sequence}), {composite}.
   example:   /+area: integer {readOnly}

   abstract operations indicated by italics (or underline).

Introduce nonstandard compartments simply by naming them, as is shown in the bottom example at left.

¹ Java, unfortunately, defaults to "package" access when no modifier is present. UML does not support the notion of a default access. UML has no notion of "implementation visibility" (accessible only within an object — other objects of the same class cannot access it).

² These are Allen Holub's personal extensions. The ~ was incorporated into the UML standard with version 1.5. The other's are not standard UML.

• Associated classes are connected by lines.
• The relationship is identified, if necessary, with a < or > to indicate direction (or use solid arrowheads).
• The role that a class plays in the relationship is identified on that class's side of the line.
• Stereotypes (like «friend») are appropriate.
• Unidirectional message flow can be indicated by an arrow (but is implicit in situations where there is only one role):
• Cardinality:

  1	(usually omitted if 1:1)
  n	(unknown at compile time, but bound)
  0..1	(1..2   1..n)
  1..*	(1 or more)
  *	(0 or more)

class Company
{ private Person[] employee=new Person[n];
  public void give_me_a_raise(
                          Person employee)
  { /*...*/
  }
  public void hire_me( Person prospect )
  { /*...*/
  }
}

class Person
{   private String  name;
    private Company employer;
    private Person  boss;
    private Vector  flunkies=new Vector();
    public  void    you_re_fired(){...}
}

identifies derivation The derived class is the base class, but with additional (or modified) properties. Derived (sub) class is a specialization of (extends) the base (super) class. Variations include:

A contract that specifies a set of methods that must be implemented by the derived class. In C++, an interface is a class containing nothing but pure virtual methods. Java supports them directly. (c.f.. "abstract class," which can contain method and field definitions in addition to the abstract declarations.)

Interfaces contain no attributes, so the "attributes" compartment is always empty.

The "inheritance" relationship line is dashed if the base class is an interface.

The "ball and socket" notation at left is new in UML 2.0. Classes that consume (require) an interface display a "socket" labeled with the interface name (A at left). Classes that provide (implement) an interface display a "ball" labeled with the interface name (B at left). Combining the two is a compact way to say that the Consumer talks to the provider via the named interface.

My UML extension: Rounded corners identify interfaces. Since rounded corners are often difficult to draw by hand, I sometimes use the version at right for hand-drawn diagrams.

Strict UML uses the «interface» stereotype in the name compartment of a standard class box. A small circle in a corner of the compartment can also indicate an interface.

If the full interface specification is in some other diagram, I use the "ball" notation or .

Microsoft-style "pin" notation (at right) is obsolete as of UML 2.0. Don't use it.

class Container
{
    Item item1;   // both of these are
    Item *item2;  // "composition"
public:
    Container() { item2 = new Item; }
    ~Container(){ delete item2;     }
}

Typically, if a role is specified, then navigability in the direction of that role is implicit. If an object doesn't have a role in some relationship, then there's no way to send messages to it, so non-navigability is implicit.

• In the case of the or, only one of the indicated relationships will exist at any given moment (a C++ union).
• Subset does the obvious.
• In official UML, put arbitrary constraints that affect more than one relationship in a "comment" box, as shown. I usually leave out the box.

class User
{ // A Hashtable is an associative array,
  // indexed by some key and containing
  // some value; in this case, contains
  // Item objects, indexed by UID.

  private Hashtable bag = new HashTable();

  private void add(UID key, Item value)
  {   bag.put( key, value );
  }
}

• Use when a class is required to define a relationship.
• If this class appears only as an association class (an class-to-class association like the one between Person and Ticket doesn't exist), objects of the association class must be passed as arguments to every message.

• Vertical lines represent objects, not classes.
  • May optionally add a ":class" to the box if it makes the diagram more readable.
• represents synchronous message. (message handler doesn't return until done).
• represents return. Label arrow with the name [and optional :type] of the returned object. (Example at left translates to: returned_obj=receiver.message2();)
• Sending object's class must have:
  1. A association of some sort with receiving-object's class.
  2. The receiver-side class's "role" must be the same as the name of the receiving object.
• Activiations are optional, but much easier to read. Compare:
  to

  Return implied by bottom of box when activations present. A is unnecessary on methods that don't return values. Explicit returns, when shown, are unambiguous because they emit from the activation for the message that returns the value.

• Messages that take a long time to arrive (when sent over a network for example) can be drawn with a diagonal line, as is shown at right.
• When activations are missing, return arrows are essential for disambiguating control flow. In above diagram, it's unclear whether message2 or message4 returns returned_obj when unlabeled returns are omitted.
• When drawing by hand, I use a solid line and put the activation boxes at the side of the line, as is shown at right.

Data "tadpoles" are often more readable than return arrows or message arguments. At left, the entryClerk object sends the shippingDock an object called order. The shippingDock returns the shippingReceipt object.

• Name box appears at point of creation.
• «creates» form for automatic creation. In C++: An object (not a reference to one) is declared as a field in a class. The closest Java equivalent is an object created by instance-variable initialization:

  class X
  { private Cls o = new Cls();
    //...
  }
  

• If message shown instead of «creates», then the message handler creates the object. Think of new Fred() as Fred.new(). Method does not have to be new().

1. message1() is sent only if the condition specified in the guard (in brackets) is true.
2. A branch. Sender sends either message2() or message3(). Guards should be exclusive. I use «else» instead of a guard when appropriate.
3. Iteration. Sender sends message4() as long as the condition is true.
4. "For each." If the receiver is a collection of objects (indicated by the cardinality of the associated role in the static model), send the message to all of them.
5. UML 2.0 Interaction Frame. As shown, condition specifies a loop. Can also use:

   loop	A loop, executes multiple times
   opt	Optional. An "if" statement.
   region	A named region.
   ref	A reference to a named region (elsewhere in diagram or on another diagram):

6. As shown, an if/else structure. Can use:

   alt	Execute one of the alternatives, controlled by guards
   par	Execute regions in parallel

    Interaction frames can nest:

Diagonal line indicates an "alternative" flow.

• Don't think loops, think what the loop is accomplishing.
• Typically, you need to send some set of messages to every element in some collection. Do this with every.
• You can get more elaborate: "every receiver where x<y".
• The diagram at left comes from this model:
  and maps to the following code:

  class sender_class
  {   receiver_class receiver[n];
      public do_it()
      {  for( int i = 0; i < n; ++i )
            receiver[i].message();
      }
  }
  

• The “stick” arrowhead means asynchronous message — the call returns before message is fully processed. A return value from an asynchronous message can indicate that work started, but can't indicate any sort of completion status.
• The box on the lifeline means activated — some activity is being performed by the object, perhaps on a background thread.
• A separate lifeline [shown at left when the work() message activates the processor object] implies a separate thread for processing the message.
• The large X indicates that an object deletes itself when done handling message. An external kill is represented as:

At left, the sender sends an asynchronous message to the active-object receiver for background processing, passing it the object to notify when the operation is complete (in this case, itself). The receiver calls it's own msg(...) method to process the request, and that method issues the callback() call when it's done. Note that:

• The callback() message is running on the receiver object's message-processing thread.
• The callback() method is, however, a member of the sender object's class, so has access to all the fields of the sender object.
• Since the original thread (from which the original request() was issued) is also running, you must synchronize access to all fields shared by both callback() and other methods of the sender object.