Rendering UML Activity Diagrams as Human-Readable Text

Abstract

We describe a modification of the Petri Net Linear Form notation to support the rendering of Unified Modeling Language (UML) Activity Diagrams as human-readable text. This new notation, called the Activity Diagram Linear Form, allows UML Activity Diagrams to be expressed in an alternate form with the superior accessibility, compatibility, and simplicity of use of a plain text representation. For some applications, these benefits greatly outweigh the 泴hetical and pedagogical advantages of a visual representation.