UML Sequence Diagram: An Alternative Model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a generalized, nonlinear model called the thinging machine (TM) to enhance understanding and modeling of sequence diagrams, addressing educational and semantic limitations of traditional approaches.

Contribution

It proposes a new TM-based modeling approach that extends sequence diagrams horizontally and superimposes events on a second plane for better clarity and refinement.

Findings

TM diagramming spreads actions nonlinearly.

Superimposed event chronology improves modeling clarity.

Remodeled sequence diagram cases demonstrate effectiveness.

Abstract

The general acceptance of sequence diagrams can be attributed to their relatively intuitive nature and ability to describe partial behaviors (as opposed to such diagrams as state charts). However, studies have shown that over 80 percent of graduating students were unable to create a software design or even a partial design, and many students had no idea how sequence diagrams were constrained by other models. Many students exhibited difficulties in identifying valid interacting objects and constructing messages with appropriate arguments. Additionally, according to authorities, even though many different semantics have been proposed for sequence diagrams (e.g., translations to state machines), there exists no suitable semantic basis refinement of required sequence diagram behavior because direct style semantics do not precisely capture required sequence diagram behaviors; translations to other formalisms disregard essential features of sequence diagrams such as guard conditions and critical regions. This paper proposes an alternative to sequence diagrams, a generalized model that provides further understanding of sequence diagrams to assimilate them into a new modeling language called thinging machine (TM). The sequence diagram is extended horizontally by removing the superficial vertical-only dimensional limitation of expansion to preserve the logical chronology of events. TM diagramming is spread nonlinearly in terms of actions. Events and their chronology are constructed on a second plane of description that is superimposed on the initial static description. The result is a more refined representation that would simplify the modeling process. This is demonstrated through remodeling sequence diagram cases from the literature.