Tools

UML modelling tools: I don't prescribe the use of any special UML drawing or modelling tool. I use, e.g., in most cases UMLet, which is an okay drawing tool for UML and runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac. On Windows platforms, a common choice is to use Visio. Also, in the last years, some recommended the use of Violet (again running under Linux, Windows, and Mac alike).

The previous tools are basically drawing tools, that don't understand a lot of the semantic of the UML. Tools that do understand the semantics of the UML are also more heavy weight. These tools include MagicDraw and VisualParadigm.

UMLet:
- Download UMLet from http://www.umlet.com
- Installation instructions as stand alone application on Windows
- To use UMLet as standalone application on Linux/Mac, download and unpack the zip-file and then start the jar-file with java -jar umlet.jar.
Violet
- Download Violet from http://alexdp.free.fr/violetumleditor/page.php
- To use Violet as standalone application on Linux, download the jar-file and start it with java -jar violetumleditor-2.1.0.jar. On Windows, just download and double click on the violetumleditor-2.1.0.exe file
Visio is a commercial Microsoft program. If you have Visio installed on your computer, then you can use the Visio stencils for UML. And here are some tips of how to use them
Magic Draw (Java, Windows and Linux)

Part of 02161 Software Engineering 1

Hubert Baumeister

April 23, 2018