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Background information: I am implementing one system on two programming languages - Java and PHP. Some of the functions will be implemented on Java, and the rest of the functionalities will be implemented using PHP.

I am actually new to UML diagrams and I am not sure if I can use the same diagrams (sequence, use case, class) to explain about my system.

Apologies if I did not phrase my question in a clearer manner. This is the best I can think of.

Joyce
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  • Aren't UML diagrams meant to be abstracted from things like the language used to implement the system? – mah Mar 18 '14 at 10:46
  • Hmm, actually I am more concern about the functionalities. For example, for use case diagram, do I summarise all of the functionalities of the system into one diagram? If so, then which diagram do I indicate that different platforms/programming language is used for each of these functionalities? Is it the use case description? – Joyce Mar 18 '14 at 10:49
  • And thank you very much for mentioning about the abstraction. Honestly I wasn't that sure about that – Joyce Mar 18 '14 at 10:50
  • I cannot recall having ever seen any mention of implementation language in a use case diagram. It feels as if you're not separating the design from the implementation -- which is one of the reasons to use UML. The use case diagram expresses what can be done from the actor's point of view, but that's not related to the language. The language (and ways the language might help accomplish those items) is an implementation detail and should remain decoupled from the system features. – mah Mar 18 '14 at 10:53
  • Your replies are fantastic. Do you want to submit it as an answer? I will mark it as solved :) thank you – Joyce Mar 18 '14 at 11:25

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UML diagrams are intended to be abstracted from things like the language used to implement the system; this level of abstraction is one of the reasons to use UML.

The use case diagram (reference from comments) expresses what can be done from the actor's point of view, but that's not related to the language chosen for the implementation. The language (and ways that language may help accomplish the use cases) is an implementation detail and should remain decoupled from the system features.

mah
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