Rendering Distributed Systems in UML

Abstract

This chapter is about the use of UML in the design of distributed systems. We have been using UML in the context of both international and local projects, and we continuously face the need for additional constructs that are especially conceived for distributed software components in general, and specifically for software running on middleware such as CORBA. In particular, it is our opinion that various UML diagrams would need some extensions (or customizations). Also we defined a development methodology supporting UML and a set of conventions that help us in overcoming such needs. Nevertheless, they contribute just to software documentation and communication, and do not provide any help in the low-level design phase as well as in the generation of code for the subsequent implementation phase. The chapter is intended to discuss our requirements and possible solutions.