An Initial Experimental Assessment of the Dynamic Modelling in UML

  • Authors:

  • Mari Carmen Otero;José/ Javier Dolado

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Computer Languages and Systems, University of the Basque Country, Spain/ jipotvim@vc.ehu.es;Department of Computer Languages and Systems, University of the Basque Country, Spain/ dolado@si.ehu.es

  • Venue:
  • Empirical Software Engineering
  • Year:
  • 2002

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Abstract

The goal of this empirical study is to compare the semantic comprehension of three different notations for representing the dynamic behaviour in unified modelling language (UML): (a) sequence diagrams, (b) collaboration diagrams, and (c) state diagrams. Eighteen students of Informatics analysed the three types of diagrams within three different application domains. We performed a 3 × 3 factorial experimental design with repeated measures. The metrics collected were total time and total score. The main conclusion of this study is that the comprehension of the dynamic modelling in object-oriented designs depends on the diagram type and on the complexity of the document. The software project design written in the UML notation is more comprehensible, when the dynamic behaviour is modelled in a sequence diagram. While if it is implemented using a collaboration diagram, the design turns out to be less comprehensible as the application domain, and consequently, the document is more complex.