Unified Modeling Language
Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a standardized modeling language used in software engineering to visualize, specify, construct, and document the artifacts of a software system. It provides a set of graphical notation techniques to create abstract models of systems, including structure diagrams (e.g., class diagrams) and behavior diagrams (e.g., sequence diagrams). UML helps in understanding complex systems, communicating design decisions, and supporting the software development lifecycle.
Developers should learn UML when working on large-scale or complex software projects that require clear documentation, design planning, and team collaboration, as it standardizes communication and reduces misunderstandings. It is particularly useful in object-oriented design, system architecture modeling, and requirements analysis, such as in enterprise applications, distributed systems, or when following methodologies like Agile or Model-Driven Development (MDD).