A qualitative assessment of the efficacy of UML diagrams as a form of graphical documentation in aiding program understanding
A qualitative assessment of the efficacy of UML diagrams as a form of graphical documentation in aiding program understanding
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对 UML 图作为图形文档形式在帮助程序理解方面的功效进行定性评估
DOI：
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发表时间：
2003
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Shihong Huang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
S. Tilley;Shihong Huang
图形文档通常被描述为程序理解的有效辅助工具。然而，究竟哪种类型的图形文档最适合哪种类型的程序理解任务（以及在哪些特定的使用环境中），这是一个悬而未决的问题。统一建模语言（UML）是现代软件应用程序建模的事实标准。本文描述了一个实验，以评估UML图在帮助程序理解的定性功效。实验要求参与者分析一系列UML图，并回答一份关于假设软件系统的详细问卷。从实验结果表明，UML的功效，支持程序理解是有限的因素，如定义不清的语法和语义，空间布局，和领域知识。
Graphical documentation is often characterized as an effective aid in program understanding. However, it is an open question exactly which types of graphical documentation are most suitable for which types of program understanding tasks (and in which specific usage contexts). The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the de facto standard for modeling modern software applications. This paper describes an experiment to assess the qualitative efficacy of UML diagrams in aiding program understanding. The experiment had participants analyze a series of UML diagrams and answer a detailed questionnaire concerning a hypothetical software system. Results from the experiment suggest that the UML's efficacy in support of program understanding is limited by factors such as ill-defined syntax and semantics, spatial layout, and domain knowledge.