DOCSLIB.ORG

Optimizing Readability for Complex UML Diagrams Generation Master of Science Thesis in Computer Science and Engineering: Algorithms, Logic and Programming Languages

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Optimizing Readability for Complex UML Diagrams Generation Master of Science Thesis in Computer Science and Engineering: Algorithms, Logic and Programming Languages Optimizing readability for complex UML diagrams generation Master of Science Thesis in Computer Science and Engineering: Algorithms, Logic and Programming Languages MYRIAM ECONOMOU ZEYNEP GÖKMEN Chalmers University of Technology University of Gothenburg Department of Computer Science and Engineering Göteborg, Sweden, 2015 The Author grants to Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg the non-exclusive right to publish the Work electronically and in a non-commercial purpose make it accessible on the Internet. The Author warrants that he/she is the author to the Work, and warrants that the Work does not contain text, pictures or other material that violates copyright law. The Author shall, when transferring the rights of the Work to a third party (for example a publisher or a company), acknowledge the third party about this agreement. If the Author has signed a copyright agreement with a third party regarding the Work, the Author warrants hereby that he/she has obtained any necessary permission from this third party to let Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg store the Work electronically and make it accessible on the Internet. Optimizing readability for complex UML diagrams generation Myriam Economou Zeynep Gökmen © Myriam Economou, 2015. © Zeynep Gökmen, 2015. Examiner: Gerardo Schneider Supervisor: Rogardt Heldal Chalmers University of Technology University of Gothenburg Department of Computer Science and Engineering SE-412 96 Göteborg Sweden Telephone + 46 (0)31-772 1000 Department of Computer Science and Engineering Göteborg, Sweden, 2015 Abstract Information visualization provides a way to convey key notions and concepts in a single image. It is a powerful tool if the visualization product is readable and has the appropriate level of information for the targeted audience. Readability means the ease with which the graphical representation is understood and processed by the viewer. Although several visualization techniques exist, this thesis work focuses on UML diagrams for software architectures’ representation. Tools exist for automatic UML diagram generation from software architecture description but the outputs for complex diagrams are cluttered and unreadable. The aim of this thesis is to provide a solution to generate automatically readable software architecture visualizations for a computer scientist’s audience of all level. It is an effort to make progress in this research field by applying theoretical state-of-the-art research findings to a design study and evaluate how they perform. This work has been conducted for Ericsson (telecommunications Company) with the goal of improving the communication within and between teams as well as keeping their documentation updated in a simple manner. The result of this thesis work is a prototype enabling the users to control several abstraction parameters and control diagram readability depending on the targeted audience. Experimentation and surveys have been conducted to determine the tool’s best settings for the audience targeted during this study. The prototype has been developed in Java and uses PlantUML as its UML diagram visualization engine. 1 Acknowledgements We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our Ericsson supervisor Thorbjörn Larsson and university supervisor Rogardt Heldal for their support during our thesis work. We would also like to thank Chalmers researchers especially Truong Hu Quang for their helpful guidance. Besides them, our sincere thanks go to Fredrik Nilsson and his team at Ericsson Lindholmen, for the friendly working atmosphere they offered during the thesis work. Lastly, we would like to thank our families for their continuous encouragement throughout the thesis. 2 Table of contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 2 Table of contents ............................................................................................................................ 3 I. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 5 1. Context .................................................................................................................................... 5 2. Motivations .............................................................................................................................. 6 3. Aim of the thesis ...................................................................................................................... 7 4. Overview.................................................................................................................................. 7 II. Foundations ................................................................................................................................ 8 1. Software visualization ............................................................................................................. 8 2. UML diagrams ......................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Class diagrams .................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Component diagrams ........................................................................................................ 9 3. Layout algorithms .................................................................................................................. 10 3.1 Force-directed layout algorithms ..................................................................................... 10 3.2 Layered (Hierarchical) layout algorithms ........................................................................ 10 4. Aesthetic rules ....................................................................................................................... 11 5. Abstraction strategy .............................................................................................................. 13 6. Audience analysis ................................................................................................................. 13 6.1 Multidimensional audience analysis ................................................................................ 13 6.2 Bottom-up approach ........................................................................................................ 14 III. Related Work ........................................................................................................................... 15 IV. Methods ................................................................................................................................... 16 1. Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 16 2. Subjects ................................................................................................................................. 16 3. Evaluation .............................................................................................................................. 17 3.1 Aesthetic criteria .............................................................................................................. 17 3.2 Audience tests ................................................................................................................. 17 3.3 Surveys ............................................................................................................................ 18 V. Design study ............................................................................................................................. 19 1. Textual UML tools comparison ............................................................................................. 19 3 2. Visibility comparison .............................................................................................................. 20 2.1 Layout algorithm comparison .......................................................................................... 20 2.2 Abstraction strategies ...................................................................................................... 22 3. Audience tests ....................................................................................................................... 34 4. Surveys.................................................................................................................................. 39 5. Validation ............................................................................................................................... 42 5.1 Construct validity ............................................................................................................. 42 5.2 Threats to validity ............................................................................................................ 42 6. Results summary .................................................................................................................. 43 7. Prototype ............................................................................................................................... 44 VI. Further research and projects ................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Networkx Tutorial
    5.03.2020 tutorial NetworkX tutorial Source: https://github.com/networkx/notebooks (https://github.com/networkx/notebooks) Minor corrections: JS, 27.02.2019 Creating a graph Create an empty graph with no nodes and no edges. In [1]: import networkx as nx In [2]: G = nx.Graph() By definition, a Graph is a collection of nodes (vertices) along with identified pairs of nodes (called edges, links, etc). In NetworkX, nodes can be any hashable object e.g. a text string, an image, an XML object, another Graph, a customized node object, etc. (Note: Python's None object should not be used as a node as it determines whether optional function arguments have been assigned in many functions.) Nodes The graph G can be grown in several ways. NetworkX includes many graph generator functions and facilities to read and write graphs in many formats. To get started though we'll look at simple manipulations. You can add one node at a time, In [3]: G.add_node(1) add a list of nodes, In [4]: G.add_nodes_from([2, 3]) or add any nbunch of nodes. An nbunch is any iterable container of nodes that is not itself a node in the graph. (e.g. a list, set, graph, file, etc..) In [5]: H = nx.path_graph(10) file:///home/szwabin/Dropbox/Praca/Zajecia/Diffusion/Lectures/1_intro/networkx_tutorial/tutorial.html 1/18 5.03.2020 tutorial In [6]: G.add_nodes_from(H) Note that G now contains the nodes of H as nodes of G. In contrast, you could use the graph H as a node in G.
    [Show full text]
  • Networkx: Network Analysis with Python
    NetworkX: Network Analysis with Python Salvatore Scellato Full tutorial presented at the XXX SunBelt Conference “NetworkX introduction: Hacking social networks using the Python programming language” by Aric Hagberg & Drew Conway Outline 1. Introduction to NetworkX 2. Getting started with Python and NetworkX 3. Basic network analysis 4. Writing your own code 5. You are ready for your project! 1. Introduction to NetworkX. Introduction to NetworkX - network analysis Vast amounts of network data are being generated and collected • Sociology: web pages, mobile phones, social networks • Technology: Internet routers, vehicular flows, power grids How can we analyze this networks? Introduction to NetworkX - Python awesomeness Introduction to NetworkX “Python package for the creation, manipulation and study of the structure, dynamics and functions of complex networks.” • Data structures for representing many types of networks, or graphs • Nodes can be any (hashable) Python object, edges can contain arbitrary data • Flexibility ideal for representing networks found in many different fields • Easy to install on multiple platforms • Online up-to-date documentation • First public release in April 2005 Introduction to NetworkX - design requirements • Tool to study the structure and dynamics of social, biological, and infrastructure networks • Ease-of-use and rapid development in a collaborative, multidisciplinary environment • Easy to learn, easy to teach • Open-source tool base that can easily grow in a multidisciplinary environment with non-expert users
    [Show full text]
  • An Optimal Control Approach for Determiniation of the Heat Loss Coefficient in an Ics Solar Domesticater W Heating System
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2010 An Optimal Control Approach For Determiniation Of The Heat Loss Coefficient In An Ics Solar Domesticater W Heating System Camilo Gil University of Central Florida Part of the Electrical and Electronics Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Gil, Camilo, "An Optimal Control Approach For Determiniation Of The Heat Loss Coefficient In An Ics Solar Domestic Water Heating System" (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 4297. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/4297 AN OPTIMAL CONTROL APPROACH FOR DETERMINATION OF THE HEAT LOSS COEFFICIENT IN AN ICS SOLAR DOMESTIC WATER HEATING SYSTEM by CAMILO GIL B.S. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 2001 M.S. University of New Mexico, 2005 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2010 Major Professor: Marwan Simaan ©2010 Camilo Gil ii ABSTRACT Water heating in a typical home in the U.S. accounts for a significant portion (between 14% and 25%) of the total home’s annual energy consumption. The objective of considerably reducing the home’s energy consumption from the utilities calls for the use of onsite renewable energy systems.
    [Show full text]
  • Uml.Sty, a Package for Writing UML Diagrams in LATEX
    uml.sty, a package for writing UML diagrams in LATEX Ellef Fange Gjelstad March 17, 2010 Contents 1 Syntax for all the commands 5 1.1 Lengths ........................................ 5 1.2 Angles......................................... 5 1.3 Nodenames...................................... 6 1.4 Referencepoints ................................. 6 1.5 Colors ......................................... 6 1.6 Linestyles...................................... 6 2 uml.sty options 6 2.1 debug ......................................... 6 2.2 index.......................................... 6 3 Object-oriented approach 7 3.1 Colors ......................................... 10 3.2 Positions....................................... 10 4 Drawable 12 4.1 Namedoptions .................................... 12 4.1.1 import..................................... 12 5 Element 12 5.1 Namedoptions .................................... 12 5.1.1 Reference ................................... 12 5.1.2 Stereotype................................... 12 5.1.3 Subof ..................................... 13 5.1.4 ImportedFrom ................................ 13 5.1.5 Comment ................................... 13 6 Box 13 6.1 Namedoptionsconcerninglocation . ....... 13 6.2 Boxesintext ..................................... 14 6.3 Named options concerning visual appearance . ......... 14 6.3.1 grayness.................................... 14 6.3.2 border..................................... 14 1 6.3.3 borderLine .................................. 14 6.3.4 innerBorder.................................
    [Show full text]
  • Development of an Entity Component System Architecture for Realtime Simulation
    Fachbereich 4: Informatik Development of an Entity Component System Architecture for Realtime Simulation Bachelorarbeit zur Erlangung des Grades Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) im Studiengang Computervisualistik vorgelegt von Trevor Hollmann Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Müller (Institut für Computervisualistik, AG Computergraphik) Zweitgutachter: Kevin Keul, M.Sc. (Institut für Computervisualistik, AG Computergraphik) Koblenz, im September 2019 Erklärung Ich versichere, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbständig verfasst und keine anderen als die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt habe. Ja Nein Mit der Einstellung der Arbeit in die Bibliothek bin ich einverstanden. .................................................................................... (Ort, Datum) (Unterschrift) Abstract The development of a game engine is considered a non-trivial problem. [3] The architecture of such simulation software must be able to manage large amounts of simulation objects in real-time while dealing with “crosscutting concerns” [3, p. 36] between subsystems. The use of object oriented paradigms to model simulation objects in class hierar- chies has been reported as incompatible with constantly changing demands dur- ing game development [2, p. 9], resulting in anti-patterns and eventual, messy re-factoring. [13] Alternative architectures using data oriented paradigms re- volving around object composition and aggregation have been proposed as a result. [13, 9, 1, 11] This thesis describes the development of such an architecture with the explicit goals to be simple, inherently compatible with data oriented design, and to make reasoning about performance characteristics possible. Concepts are for- mally defined to help analyze the problem and evaluate results. A functional implementation of the architecture is presented together with use cases common to simulation software. Zusammenfassung Die Entwicklung einer Spiele-Engine wird als nichttriviales Problem betrach- tet.
    [Show full text]
  • Component Diagrams in UML
    9. UML Component Diagrams Page 1 of 4 Component Diagrams in UML The previous articles covered two of the three primary areas in which the UML diagrams are categorized (see Article 1)—Static and Dynamic. The remaining two UML diagrams that fall under the category of Implementation are the Component and Deployment diagrams. In this article, we will discuss the Component diagram. Basics The different high-level reusable parts of a system are represented in a Component diagram. A component is one such constituent part of a system. In addition to representing the high-level parts, the Component diagram also captures the inter- relationships between these parts. So, how are component diagrams different from the previous UML diagrams that we have seen? The primary difference is that Component diagrams represent the implementation perspective of a system. Hence, components in a Component diagram reflect grouping of the different design elements of a system, for example, classes of the system. Let us briefly understand what criteria to apply to model a component. First and foremost, a component should be substitutable as is. Secondly, a component must provide an interface to enable other components to interact and use the services provided by the component. So, why would not a design element like an interface suffice? An interface provides only the service but not the implementation. Implementation is normally provided by a class that implements the interface. In complex systems, the physical implementation of a defined service is provided by a group of classes rather than a single class. A component is an easy way to represent the grouping together of such implementation classes.
    [Show full text]
  • Using the UML for Architectural Description?
    Using the UML for Architectural Description? Rich Hilliard Integrated Systems and Internet Solutions, Inc. Concord, MA USA [email protected] Abstract. There is much interest in using the Unified Modeling Lan- guage (UML) for architectural description { those techniques by which architects sketch, capture, model, document and analyze architectural knowledge and decisions about software-intensive systems. IEEE P1471, the Recommended Practice for Architectural Description, represents an emerging consensus for specifying the content of an architectural descrip- tion for a software-intensive system. Like the UML, IEEE P1471 does not prescribe a particular architectural method or life cycle, but may be used within a variety of such processes. In this paper, I provide an overview of IEEE P1471, describe its conceptual framework, and investigate the issues of applying the UML to meet the requirements of IEEE P1471. Keywords: IEEE P1471, architectural description, multiple views, view- points, Unified Modeling Language 1 Introduction The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is rapidly maturing into the de facto standard for modeling of software-intensive systems. Standardized by the Object Management Group (OMG) in November 1997, it is being adopted by many organizations, and being supported by numerous tool vendors. At present, there is much interest in using the UML for architectural descrip- tion: the techniques by which architects sketch, capture, model, document and analyze architectural knowledge and decisions about software-intensive systems. Such techniques enable architects to record what they are doing, modify or ma- nipulate candidate architectures, reuse portions of existing architectures, and communicate architectural information to others. These descriptions may the be used to analyze and reason about the architecture { possibly with automated support.
    [Show full text]
  • Graph Database Fundamental Services
    Bachelor Project Czech Technical University in Prague Faculty of Electrical Engineering F3 Department of Cybernetics Graph Database Fundamental Services Tomáš Roun Supervisor: RNDr. Marko Genyk-Berezovskyj Field of study: Open Informatics Subfield: Computer and Informatic Science May 2018 ii Acknowledgements Declaration I would like to thank my advisor RNDr. I declare that the presented work was de- Marko Genyk-Berezovskyj for his guid- veloped independently and that I have ance and advice. I would also like to thank listed all sources of information used Sergej Kurbanov and Herbert Ullrich for within it in accordance with the methodi- their help and contributions to the project. cal instructions for observing the ethical Special thanks go to my family for their principles in the preparation of university never-ending support. theses. Prague, date ............................ ........................................... signature iii Abstract Abstrakt The goal of this thesis is to provide an Cílem této práce je vyvinout webovou easy-to-use web service offering a database službu nabízející databázi neorientova- of undirected graphs that can be searched ných grafů, kterou bude možno efektivně based on the graph properties. In addi- prohledávat na základě vlastností grafů. tion, it should also allow to compute prop- Tato služba zároveň umožní vypočítávat erties of user-supplied graphs with the grafové vlastnosti pro grafy zadané uži- help graph libraries and generate graph vatelem s pomocí grafových knihoven a images. Last but not least, we implement zobrazovat obrázky grafů. V neposlední a system that allows bulk adding of new řadě je také cílem navrhnout systém na graphs to the database and computing hromadné přidávání grafů do databáze a their properties.
    [Show full text]
  • VI. the Unified Modeling Language UML Diagrams
    Conceptual Modeling CSC2507 VI. The Unified Modeling Language Use Case Diagrams Class Diagrams Attributes, Operations and ConstraintsConstraints Generalization and Aggregation Sequence and Collaboration Diagrams State and Activity Diagrams 2004 John Mylopoulos UML -- 1 Conceptual Modeling CSC2507 UML Diagrams I UML was conceived as a language for modeling software. Since this includes requirements, UML supports world modeling (...at least to some extend). I UML offers a variety of diagrammatic notations for modeling static and dynamic aspects of an application. I The list of notations includes use case diagrams, class diagrams, interaction diagrams -- describe sequences of events, package diagrams, activity diagrams, state diagrams, …more... 2004 John Mylopoulos UML -- 2 Conceptual Modeling CSC2507 Use Case Diagrams I A use case [Jacobson92] represents “typical use scenaria” for an object being modeled. I Modeling objects in terms of use cases is consistent with Cognitive Science theories which claim that every object has obvious suggestive uses (or affordances) because of its shape or other properties. For example, Glass is for looking through (...or breaking) Cardboard is for writing on... Radio buttons are for pushing or turning… Icons are for clicking… Door handles are for pulling, bars are for pushing… I Use cases offer a notation for building a coarse-grain, first sketch model of an object, or a process. 2004 John Mylopoulos UML -- 3 Conceptual Modeling CSC2507 Use Cases for a Meeting Scheduling System Initiator Participant
    [Show full text]
  • UML Tutorial: Part 1 -- Class Diagrams
    UML Tutorial: Part 1 -- Class Diagrams. Robert C. Martin My next several columns will be a running tutorial of UML. The 1.0 version of UML was released on the 13th of January, 1997. The 1.1 release should be out before the end of the year. This col- umn will track the progress of UML and present the issues that the three amigos (Grady Booch, Jim Rumbaugh, and Ivar Jacobson) are dealing with. Introduction UML stands for Unified Modeling Language. It represents a unification of the concepts and nota- tions presented by the three amigos in their respective books1. The goal is for UML to become a common language for creating models of object oriented computer software. In its current form UML is comprised of two major components: a Meta-model and a notation. In the future, some form of method or process may also be added to; or associated with, UML. The Meta-model UML is unique in that it has a standard data representation. This representation is called the meta- model. The meta-model is a description of UML in UML. It describes the objects, attributes, and relationships necessary to represent the concepts of UML within a software application. This provides CASE manufacturers with a standard and unambiguous way to represent UML models. Hopefully it will allow for easy transport of UML models between tools. It may also make it easier to write ancillary tools for browsing, summarizing, and modifying UML models. A deeper discussion of the metamodel is beyond the scope of this column. Interested readers can learn more about it by downloading the UML documents from the rational web site2.
    [Show full text]
  • Affordit!: a Tool for Authoring Object Component Behavior in Virtual
    AffordIt!: A Tool for Authoring Object Component Behavior in Virtual Reality * † ‡ § Sina Masnadi Andres´ N. Vargas Gonzalez´ Brian Williamson Joseph J. LaViola Jr. Department of Computer Science University of Central Florida (a) (b) (c) (d) Figure 1: These figures show a sequence of steps followed to add a rotation affordance to the door of a washer machine. (a) An object in the scenario (b) Cylinder shape selection wrapping the door. (c) A user sets the amount of rotation the door will be constrained to. (d) An animation generated from the affordance can be visualized. ABSTRACT realistic experiences necessary to a VR scene, but not asset creation In this paper we present AffordIt!, a tool for adding affordances (a situation described in Hughes et al. [17]) which are needed to to the component parts of a virtual object. Following 3D scene build a virtual scene. To alleviate this problem, recent research has been focusing on frameworks to ease users’ authoring process as reconstruction and segmentation procedures, users find themselves with complete virtual objects, but no intrinsic behaviors have been seen in [9, 12, 35]. 3D scene reconstruction [32, 34, 44, 49] provides assigned, forcing them to use unfamiliar Desktop-based 3D editing a suitable solution to the problem. Initially a 3D reconstructed tools. AffordIt! offers an intuitive solution that allows a user to environment will be composed of a continuous mesh which can be segmented via autonomous tools as shown in George et al. [10] and select a region of interest for the mesh cutter tool, assign an intrinsic behavior and view an animation preview of their work.
    [Show full text]
  • Unifying Modeling and Programming with ALF
    SOFTENG 2016 : The Second International Conference on Advances and Trends in Software Engineering Unifying Modeling and Programming with ALF Thomas Buchmann and Alexander Rimer University of Bayreuth Chair of Applied Computer Science I Bayreuth, Germany email: fthomas.buchmann, [email protected] Abstract—Model-driven software engineering has become more The Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) [5] has been and more popular during the last decade. While modeling the established as an extensible platform for the development of static structure of a software system is almost state-of-the art MDSE applications. It is based on the Ecore meta-model, nowadays, programming is still required to supply behavior, i.e., which is compatible with the Object Management Group method bodies. Unified Modeling Language (UML) class dia- (OMG) Meta Object Facility (MOF) specification [6]. Ideally, grams constitute the standard in structural modeling. Behavioral software engineers operate only on the level of models such modeling, on the other hand, may be achieved graphically with a set of UML diagrams or with textual languages. Unfortunately, that there is no need to inspect or edit the actual source code, not all UML diagrams come with a precisely defined execution which is generated from the models automatically. However, semantics and thus, code generation is hindered. In this paper, an practical experiences have shown that language-specific adap- implementation of the Action Language for Foundational UML tations to the generated source code are frequently necessary. (Alf) standard is presented, which allows for textual modeling In EMF, for instance, only structure is modeled by means of of software systems.
    [Show full text]