UML behavior: Inheritance and implementation in current object-oriented languages

Abstract

The UML dynamic model is described using notions like state, event or active object that current object-oriented languages don’t support. When the implementation is not done using a state machine interpreter, these notions had to be translated into the target language. This work aims to study how to translate as automatically as possible UML state diagrams into current objectoriented languages (OOLs), distinguishing sequential and concurrent execution. This translation requires to map UML notions onto OOLs ones, to adapt the abstract state machine, and to add information to state diagrams. Behavior inheritance is a key problem, and both theoretical and practical solutions are examined to ensure behavior substitutability. Then, two main ways for state representation are compared from the inheritance point of view, and automatic code generation is discussed.