UML Weekend Crash Course™ - To Parent Directory

SESSION
24
Modeling the Development
Environment
Session Checklist
✔ Explaining the purpose and function of packages
✔ Defining the package notation
✔ Creating a Package diagram for the case study
Throughout the development process, you create a wide variety of diagrams to gather
requirements, research those requirements, and ultimately describe the software you
want to generate. Without a tool to organize all those work products, the job can
quickly become confusing and overwhelming. Packages are the UML tool for organizing the
diagrams and other work products of the project.
Describing the Purpose and Function of Packages
A package is modeled with a folder icon like the three packages in Figure 24-1. Also illustrated
in Figure 24-1 is the fact that packages may be used for three distinct purposes. In
one role, they may be used to organize any and all of the diagrams that you create during
the project. You can place the diagrams into various packages just like you would place files
into various directories on your computer. You name the directories and packages to indicate
the purpose of the contained files. Figure 24-1 illustrates this role with the package on
the left, a package of deliverables for Project A7, Phase 1.
Packages may contain any of the logical model elements you’ve learned so far, such as
Use Case diagrams, Sequence diagrams, Class diagrams, and even other packages. In fact,
most modeling tools provide a navigation mechanism based on packages that look and function
exactly like a directory structure. Because this use of packages is so general, you may
use virtually any stereotype with it to explain how you are using the particular package.