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An activity diagram in UML (Unified Modeling Language) is a type of behavior diagram that visually represents a sequence of activities in a system. It demonstrates the flow of control from one activity to another, illustrating how tasks are split up into a series of actions, decisions, or processes. |
Activity diagrams are similar to flowcharts and can be used to model business processes, software algorithms, workflows, and other sequential or parallel processes.
Here are the key components of an activity diagram:
Activity: These are the individual operations within a system. They're represented by rounded rectangles.
Control Flow: These are the paths along which control passes from one activity to the next. They're represented by arrows between activities.
Decision Node: These are used to represent choices, often resulting from a condition in the process. The decision node is represented by a diamond shape with one input and two or more outputs. The outputs are typically labeled with conditions.
Merge Node: This is used to bring together different branches of a decision node. It's represented by a diamond shape and has multiple incoming flows and a single outgoing flow.
Fork Node: This is used to represent the start of concurrent threads of activities. It's represented as a horizontal or vertical bar with one incoming flow and multiple outgoing flows.
Join Node: This is used to synchronize concurrent threads of activities. It's represented as a horizontal or vertical bar with multiple incoming flows and one outgoing flow.
Start Node: This is the initial state of the process or workflow. It's represented by a filled circle.
End Node: This is the final state of the process or workflow. It's represented by a filled circle surrounded by a hollow circle.
By using activity diagrams, you can understand the flow of activities in a system, identify areas for improvement, and create a shared understanding of how a process works.
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