We have found the following symbol de?¬?nitions to be effective.
. Use different kinds of notational elements for different modeling concepts.
NOTATION FOR THE LANGUAGE 259
. Use square and rectangle symbols when you need to show more text inside a
symbol: the space can be used better than the ellipse, cloud, circle, triangle, and
so on.
. Use vector graphics when the symbol needs to be scaled.
. Show only relevant data directly in the visual representation. Those days are
gone when all the models were created with pen and paper showing all
information on the same sheet. Today modeling tools can use ?¬?lters and show
the details in additional property sheets, dialogs, and browsers next to models.
. When the language is new for users, you may offer more guidance as part of the
notation, like showing the name of the modeling concept as part of the symbol.
Later, when the language has been learnt, you may remove them from the
language de?¬?nition or perhaps the tool allows users to hide them.
. Use colors.We hardly ever develop software that uses just black and white in its
user interface, so why should models? Colors help in representing and reading
the models and simply make them look better. You can use coloring and shading
to illustrate different aspects or views, like MVC architecture (Chapter 9),
similar kinds of domain concepts (Chapter 5), and UI (Chapter 8).
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