Conceptual Modeling of Structure and Behavior with UML—The Top Level Object-Oriented Framework

Abstract. In the last decade UML has emerged as the standard object-oriented conceptual modeling language. Since UML is a combination of previous languages, such as Booch, OMT, Statecharts, etc., the creation of multi-views within UML was unavoidable. These views, which represent different aspects of system structure and behavior, overlap, raising consistency and integration problems. Moreover, the object-oriented nature of UML sets the ground for several behavioral views in UML, each of which is a different alternative for representing behavior. In this paper I suggest a Top-Level Object-Oriented Framework (TLOOF) for UML models. This framework, which serves as the glue of use case, class, and interaction diagrams, enables changing the refinement level of a model without losing the comprehension of the system as a whole and without creating contradictions among the mentioned structural and behavioral views. Furthermore, the suggested framework does not add new classifiers to the UML metamodel, hence, it does not complicate UML.