Extending UML for Development of Distributed Control Systems with Heterogeneous Languages

Distributed systems, such as grid, are operated on many heterogeneous platforms. In such grid environments, each subsystem tends to be developed under different programming languages including non object-oriented languages. Nowadays, UML is the de-facto standard for modeling and documentation. However, representing non object-oriented languages with UML causes problems since UML is optimized for object-oriented languages. In this paper, we propose an approach to overcome such problem. If a non object-oriented language has a feature which can be mapped to object or class, the feature is extended to be used in UML diagrams. Then, new stereotype is assigned to distinguish the feature from original entities of UML. Such integrated UML representation with heterogeneous languages provides consistency for stakeholders since complex details of heterogeneous languages are hidden and encapsulated. An extended UML metamodel profile is proposed for consistent later application of the approach. An example is presented to show the effectiveness of the approach