What is really different with FLOW CHART from ACTIVITY DIAGRAM?

uml flowchart activity-diagram
yelo picture yelo · May 30, 2015 · Viewed 20.4k times · Source

I know activity diagram is

  1. more simple
  2. standardized
  3. support concurrent flows

than a flow chart.

But what is the reason I should use activity diagram rather than flow chart apart from those above points.

I'm just started UML. And this point is unclear for me. Can anyone explain to me? Thanks in advance.

Answer

Andy Dent picture Andy Dent · May 30, 2015

An activity diagram is not simpler than a flow chart. A flow chart is a simpler (earlier) version of an Activity Diagram.

Flow charts were invented at least 20 years earlier and are commonly used by non-programmers to document workflows. Any business process where people have to make decisions can be described as a flow chart. So, for example, a clerk making decisions about how to file complicated information might have a flow chart on the wall.

Because a flow chart is a subset of an activity diagram, there's actually no decision to make. A flow chart naturally grows into an activity diagram if you need to add more complex descriptions.

Sparx have a good explanation of the range of things you can describe in an Activity Diagram

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