UML - the Unified Modeling Language

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Why? - Good question!

• What is a language?
  "a communcable abstract representation" for ideas, descriptions, facts, etc.

• What is a model?
  "a conceptual simplification of something more complicated", ie a numerical model, a plastic model, a business model, a workflow model, etc.

• Why is it unified?
  around 1994 there were many software modeling languages, leading to problems in exchanging designs, confusing nomenclature, and fragmentation of the OO community. Unification of the languages brought together practitioners and has led to advances in modeling, design, and tool-building.