Function References as First Class Citizens in UML Class Modeling

Steffen Heinzl, Vitaliy Schreibmann

2018

Abstract

There have been a number of philosophical discussions whether functional programming or object-oriented programming is the better programming concept. In reality, programmers utilize both concepts and functional programming concepts improve object-oriented languages. Likewise the modeling of OO languages should also reflect these concepts in the modeling process. This paper improves the modeling of behavior (usually expressed through functional programming) in UML class diagrams. In UML class diagrams, behavior modeling is only achieved by modeling a new class containing the desired function. If several alternatives for a certain behavior have to be expressed, the modeling complexity increases because we need to introduce an interface and for each alternative an additional class. Therefore, we propose a new function element that circumvents these problems and reduces the complexity of the model. Due to the proposed << Function >> stereotype, functions in the model can be identified at first glance. The new model is motivated by the strategy pattern and evaluated against a more complex design pattern. A possible first implementation is presented.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Heinzl S. and Schreibmann V. (2018). Function References as First Class Citizens in UML Class Modeling.In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE, ISBN 978-989-758-300-1, pages 335-342. DOI: 10.5220/0006783603350342

in Bibtex Style

@conference{enase18,
author={Steffen Heinzl and Vitaliy Schreibmann},
title={Function References as First Class Citizens in UML Class Modeling},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE,},
year={2018},
pages={335-342},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0006783603350342},
isbn={978-989-758-300-1},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering - Volume 1: ENASE,
TI - Function References as First Class Citizens in UML Class Modeling
SN - 978-989-758-300-1
AU - Heinzl S.
AU - Schreibmann V.
PY - 2018
SP - 335
EP - 342
DO - 10.5220/0006783603350342