Poseidon for UML: Users Guide
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# Component Diagrams

After a while, clusters of classes that strongly interact and form a unit will start to peel out from the architecture. To express this, the corresponding clusters can be represented as components. If taken far enough, this can lead to a highly reusable component architecture. But such an architecture is hard to design from scratch and usually evolves over time. As mentioned above, component diagrams are, like object diagrams, edited with the deployment diagram editor; therefore, the corresponding model elements are explained in that section.

Figure 10-8. A Component diagram.

## Diagram Elements

- Nodes and Instances of Nodes - Nodes represent the hardware elements of the deployment system.

- Components and Instances of Components - Components stand for software elements that are deployed to the hardware system.

- Links - Links are used to connect instances of nodes or objects.

- Dependencies - Dependencies exist between components and can be specified by utilizing predefined or user-defined stereotypes.

- Associations - Associations are used to display communication relations between nodes. They can be specified by utilizing predefined or user-defined stereotypes.

- Objects, Classes, Interfaces - Components and nodes can include objects, classes or interfaces.

## Toolbar

| Select
| Node
| Instance of a Node
| Component
| Port
| Instance of a Component
| Dependency
| Connector Between Ports
| Class
| Interface As Circle
| Lollipop
| Socket
| Association
| Directed Association
| Aggregation
| Composition
| Association Class
| Object
| Link
| Comment
| Connect Comment to Element
| Text
| Circle
| Rectangle
| Polygon
| Polyline
| Repaint

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