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  1. OMG Issue

UML25 — UML 2 Superstructure -Incompatible use of term link

  • Key: UML25-606
  • Legacy Issue Number: 7825
  • Status: closed  
  • Source: The MathWorks ( Mr. Alan Moore)
  • Summary:

    The Semantics of Association says:

    "An association declares that there can be links between instances of the
    associated types. A link is a tuple with one value for
    each end of the assocaition, where each value is an instance of the type of
    the end."

    but in Semantics of Connector the spec states:

    "Specifies a link that enables communication between two or more instances.
    This link may be an instance of an association, or
    it may represent the possibility of the instances being able to communicate
    because their identities are known by virtue of
    being passed in as parameters, held in variables or slots, or because the
    communicating instances are the same instance."

    The small issue is that link is used in incompatible ways which is
    confusing. The bigger issue is that Connectors may be typed by Associations
    and even if there is no actual type, one is "inferred". I would have thought
    that an instance of a Connector (a link) typed by an Association would have
    to be an Association Instance; one possible interpretation of this is that
    an instance of a Connector is only an Association Instance if it has a
    "non-inferred" type, although the value of "inferring" a type seems dubious
    if that is the case. The spec should clarify the situation.

  • Reported: UML 1.4.2 — Thu, 30 Sep 2004 04:00 GMT
  • Disposition: Resolved — UML 2.5
  • Disposition Summary:

    Discussion
    This issue has already been resolved by, or no longer applies to, the UML 2.5 Beta 1 specification.
    Disposition: Closed - No Change

  • Updated: Fri, 6 Mar 2015 20:59 GMT