SYSML16 — The association-like notation is ambiguous

In our discussion about SYSML16-308, Mr. Conrad Bock pointed out that the association-like notation provided by UML is ambiguous.

See below:

In the figure below the "size" attribute is not part of an association this is only an "association-like" notation that UML allows. The point is that there in no multiplicity and the opposite side because there is no corresponding role. By the way, multiplicity on this opposite side is not constrained (i.e. it is "0..*") while with a "true" association, multiplicities that are not shown are often interpreted by some reader to be "1..1" (even if the UML specification explicitly say that: "If no multiplicity is shown on the diagram, no conclusion may be drawn about the multiplicity in the model")

In order to fix this we can either:

• propose a better notation
• deprecate this notation

Merge with SYSML16-154

It makes sense to merge this issue with SYSML16-154 (about Block constraint#4) in order to provide a consistent resolution.