UML 1.4 NO IDEA Avatar
  1. OMG Issue

UML14 — representation of arrays of values in an action language

  • Key: UML14-131
  • Legacy Issue Number: 5924
  • Status: closed  
  • Source: FAU Erlangen ( Martin Jung)
  • Summary:

    While looking at the representation of arrays of values in an action language we discovered, that it is not clear whether arrays may be represented as structural features with a multiplicity according to the array dimension. Example: int[23] foo; would be represented as attribute foo:int [0..23];

    However, an attribute is a structural feature and the multiplicity of it is defined as "the cardinality of the set of values" (chap. 2.5.2.37, p. 2-49). This leads us to the conclusion, that attributes with a multiplicity range greater than one have set characteristics (in a mathematical sense), that is, no duplicate values would be allowed. Is our assumption to use multiplicities for representation of arrays wrong, or is our view of a "set of values" as a mathematical set too strict?

    Anyway, another question in this context arises: Regarding the figure 2-47 (chap. 2.21.2 p. 2-254) we wonder if the association with the "insertAt" rolename at InputPin of AddAttributeValueAction is an indicator for bag characteristics (array semantics)? On the other hand the definition of RemoveAttributeValueAction suggests that every value exists only once, in other words, set characteristics.

  • Reported: UML 1.5 — Wed, 30 Apr 2003 04:00 GMT
  • Disposition: Resolved — UML 1.4.2
  • Disposition Summary:

    see above - resolved

  • Updated: Fri, 6 Mar 2015 20:58 GMT