Empirical study on the difficulties of software modeling through class diagrams

Abstract

Software design is one of the stages of the software life cycle characterized as an activity of a creative nature, where software components and their relationships are identified, hence it is extremely important for constructing software efficiently. This research aims to explore the problems students at the undergraduate level face in their first attempts at modeling software. In this article we report the results of an empirical case study that analyzes class diagrams expressed in the Unified Modeling Language (UML) by students enrolled in lectures related to computer science at the undergraduate level. Additionally, we conducted a quantitative analysis that makes evident the most frequent problems the students faced while designing software. The results reveal that students show difficulties understanding multiplicity, assigning appropriate behavior to classes, distinguishing attributes from classes, and conceiving the problem from a holistic perspective.