Continuing The Project That Time Forgot, a UML case study in comic strip form... (Click pictures for larger images.)
“We grow dinosaurs!” Big whoop, huh? Like anyone reading the strip hadn’t figured that out before I started Scene 1… It’s hard to surprise the characters in a story when the audience can tell from the promos what the surprise is.
But since The UML Guy has been part of the project before, none of this was a surprise to him. So while the others were taking in the new sights, he was drawing more UML diagrams. His results follow.
We learned a few more specific kinds of scientists on the project:
We added one more category of Employee Actors, Information Staff:
If you’ve ever eaten at a restaurant – certainly if you’ve ever worked at one – you’ll realize we need more detail in our set of Concession Actors, starting with a Restaurant Manager:
And then more specific Restaurant Staff:
We also learned of more systems we’ll need to support the functions described in the Episode:
We added an Information Console, a Laboratory Server, Laboratory Computers, Laboratory Devices, a Commerce Server, and Cash Registers. Note that the Commerce Server has to communicate with the Warehouse Server to schedule deliveries to the rooms and to the mainland.
These new systems complicated the physical Deployment Diagram almost to the breaking point. It’s complex enough that The UML Guy plans to group it, simplify it, and turn it into multiple diagrams when he gets time. But for now, here’s one more look at the single diagram:
We added some new Use Cases for Driver:
And for Guest:
One of those Use Cases, Make Purchase, is complex enough to deserve a dedicated diagram:
We can see from the Episode that there are multiple Classes of souvenirs:
And finally, we have new Use Cases for the Geneticist and the Embryologist. Normally, The UML Guy prefers a single diagram per Actor, focused on the Use Cases for that Actor; but in this case, the Use Cases are closely related and work with related Domain Objects. So he combined the diagrams for now, but may split them later:
That’s it for new UML content for this Episode. Oh, The UML Guy could imagine more, such as Use Cases for the Restaurant Staff and the Souvenir Staff; but Owner just didn’t give enough detail to work with. Those will come out over time.
Other comments on this Episode:
- The sign post in panel 2 probably ought to include Seoul, Ottumwa, Mill Valley, Boston, and Crabapple Cove; but that would’ve made it unreadable.
- It’s not the Dino Dog that’s bothering The Reader in panel 6, it’s the curry. The fastest way to drive him away is to serve him curry. But boy, curried chicken sausage sounds good to me right now!
- Since you insisted (I know you’re thinking it, here’s the recipe for Yabanapple Soup:
Yabanapple Soup (Serves 4)
3 large ripe bananas
1 large sweet potato (sometimes called a yam in America, but not the same as yams elsewhere – it’s a whole different genus and species)
1 large can of chunk pineapple, drained
2 large cans of whole coconut milk (skim if you prefer)
3 tablespoons of honey
1 dash cinnamon
1 dash nutmeg
- Clean and peel the sweet potato.
- Boil a pan of water. When boiling, add the sweet potato, and boil until slightly soft. Remove from heat and drain.
- Peel and slice the banana into quarter-inch slices.
- Slice the sweet potato into quarter-inch slices, and then into chunks.
- In a sauce pan, mix coconut milk, sweet potato chunks, banana slices, pineapple chunks, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg. Heat until simmering.
- Serve hot; or chill and serve with a scoop of ice cream.
- Boy, those are some cool-looking souvenirs in panel 7. Let’s take a closer look:
Wow! Too bad this is just a comic strip, not the real world. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a place where you could buy LoungeWare, especially just in time for Christmas?
- Wayne H. Boring was a famous and popular Superman artist. I love his work, and I couldn’t resist borrowing his name for the pun in panel 8.
Next Episode: a tour of the Labs!