class diagrams showing packages

While describing the overall design, it is a very good idea to describe the code structure and the inter-dependency of source code. We can use Class Diagrams to describe package structure and the dependecy of packages onto one another.

Architecture Discovery

Visual Studio Team Architect Edition 2010 is coming up with Architecture Discovery feature for .NET classes/namespaces/assemblies. This features is quite the same as that of Rational Software Architect (RSA) for Java objects. This would further reduce the role of RSA in .NET code generation/engineering. Going forward that would hardly be any takers for Rational UML tools for .NET modeling/engineering. Visual Studio Team Editions would provide complete experience for Architects, developers and project managers.

Why State Chart Diagram Diagrams ( State Machine Diagram in UML 2 )

So why do we need State Chart Diagrams. People often make good use of Sequence and class diagram as they are largely most popular diagrams that developer makes use of. State Chart Diagrams are very powerful diagrams when it comes to depicting LOGIC. So ask yourself this question - how can I depict business logic in UML. Well sequence diagram is certainly not the answer. Sequence diagrams are for representing control flow logic between objects and not business logic. State chart diagram should do a good job for representing business logic. Lets take an example. An account can exist in many states - 'under process of opening', normal, suspended , closed, 'not used for last 6 months', etc. What business, operation can be performed on a account depends on what state it is in. Consider using state chart diagrams for representing your business logic around account manipulation. Activity Diagram is also a good way of representing business logic. In most cases, a combination of 'Activity Diagram' and 'State Chart' diagram is good for depicting Business Logic.