Visual modeling is the graphic representation of objects and systems of interest using graphical languages. Visual modeling is a way for experts and novices to have a common understanding of otherwise complicated ideas. By using visual models complex ideas are not held to human limitations, allowing for greater complexity without a loss of comprehension. Visual modeling can also be used to bring a group to a consensus. Models help effectively communicate ideas among designers, allowing for quicker discussion and an eventual consensus. Visual modeling languages may be

General-Purpose Modeling General-purpose modeling (GPM) is the systematic use of a general-purpose modeling language to represent the various facets of an object or a system. Examples of GPM languages are: * The Unified Modeling Language (UML), an industry standard for m ...

(GPM) languages (e.g.,

UML The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose, developmental modeling language in the field of software engineering that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. The creation of UML was originally m ...

, Southbeach Notation,

IDEF IDEF, initially an abbreviation of ICAM Definition and renamed in 1999 as Integration Definition,IEEE Standard for Functional Modeling Language—Syntax and Semantics for IDEF0, Software Engineering Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Soci ...

) or Domain-Specific Modeling (DSM) languages (e.g.,

SysML The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) is a general-purpose modeling language for systems engineering applications. It supports the specification, analysis, design, verification and validation of a broad range of systems and systems-of-systems. S ...

). Visual modelling in computer science had no standard before the 90's, and was incomparable until the introduction of the UML. They include industry open standards (e.g., UML, SysML,

Modelica Modelica is an object-oriented, declarative, multi-domain modeling language for component-oriented modeling of complex systems, e.g., systems containing mechanical, electrical, electronic, hydraulic, thermal, control, electric power or process-o ...

), as well as proprietary standards, such as the visual languages associated with

VisSim VisSim is a visual block diagram program for simulation of dynamical systems and model-based design of embedded systems, with its own visual language. It is developed by Visual Solutions of Westford, Massachusetts. Visual Solutions was acquired ...

MATLAB MATLAB (an abbreviation of "MATrix LABoratory") is a proprietary multi-paradigm programming language and numeric computing environment developed by MathWorks. MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation ...

and

Simulink Simulink is a MATLAB-based graphical programming environment for modeling, simulating and analyzing multidomain dynamical systems. Its primary interface is a graphical block diagramming tool and a customizable set of block libraries. It offers t ...

OPNET OPNET Technologies, Inc. was a software business that provided performance management for computer networks A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common comm ...

, NetSim,

NI Multisim NI Multisim (formerly MultiSIM) is an electronic schematic capture and simulation program which is part of a suite of circuit design programs, along with NI Ultiboard. Multisim is one of the few circuit design programs to employ the original B ...

, and

Reactive Blocks Reactive Blocks is a visual model-driven development environment based on Activity Diagrams supporting formal model analysis, automated code generation, hierarchical modelling, and an extensive library of ready-to-use components for the Java pl ...

. Both VisSim and Reactive Blocks provide a royalty-free, downloadable viewer that lets anyone open and interactively simulate their models. The community edition of Reactive Blocks also allows full editing of the models as well as compilation, as long as the work is published under the

Eclipse Public License The Eclipse Public License (EPL) is a free and open source software license most notably used for the Eclipse IDE and other projects by the Eclipse Foundation. It replaces the Common Public License (CPL) and removes certain terms relating to ...

. Visual modeling languages are an area of active research that continues to evolve, as evidenced by increasing interest in DSM languages, visual

requirements In product development and process optimization, a requirement is a singular documented physical or functional need that a particular design, product or process aims to satisfy. It is commonly used in a formal sense in engineering design, includi ...

, and visual OWL (

Web Ontology Language The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is a family of knowledge representation languages for authoring ontologies. Ontologies are a formal way to describe taxonomies and classification networks, essentially defining the structure of knowledge for variou ...

References

External links

Visual Modeling Forum
A web community dedicated to visual modeling languages and tools. Programming language topics Unified Modeling Language Simulation programming languages {{comp-sci-stub

See also

References

External links