Data Model Comprehension: An Empirical Comparison of ER and UML Class Diagrams

We present the results of two controlled experiments to compare ER and UML class diagrams, in order to find out which of the models provides better support during the comprehension of data models. The experiment involved Master and Bachelor students performing comprehension tasks on data models repr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2008 16th IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension pp. 93 - 102
Main Authors De Lucia, Andrea, Gravino, Carmine, Oliveto, Rocco, Tortora, Genoveffa
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.06.2008
Subjects
Comprehension
Context modeling
Data models
Empirical Studies
ER diagrams
Erbium
Informatics
Mathematics
Object oriented databases
Object oriented modeling
Relational databases
Software engineering
UML class diagrams
Unified modeling language
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ISBN9780769531762
0769531768
ISSN1092-8138
DOI10.1109/ICPC.2008.26

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Summary:We present the results of two controlled experiments to compare ER and UML class diagrams, in order to find out which of the models provides better support during the comprehension of data models. The experiment involved Master and Bachelor students performing comprehension tasks on data models represented by ER or UML class diagrams. The achieved results show that UML class diagrams significantly improve the comprehension level achieved by subjects. Moreover, having different subjects with different levels of ability and experience allowed us to also make some considerations on the influence of such factors on the comprehension performances.
ISBN:9780769531762
0769531768
ISSN:1092-8138
DOI:10.1109/ICPC.2008.26