TABLE OF CONTENTS This chapter addresses the topic of model organization and describes the organizational concepts provided by SysML: models, packages, and views. In SysML, the fundamental unit of model organization is the package. Packages and their contents are shown on a package diagram. Packages are both containers and namespaces, two fundamental concepts in SysML.
In SysML, each model element is contained within a single container that is sometimes called its owner or parent. Contained elements are often called the child elements. When a container is deleted or copied, its child elements are also deleted or copied. Some child elements are also containers, which leads to a nested containment hierarchy of model elements.
Packages are one example of a container. The model elements contained within a package are called packageable elements, examples of which are blocks, use cases, and activities. Since packages are also packageable elements, they can support package hierarchies.
In addition to having a place in a containment hierarchy, each model element with a name must also be a member of a namespace. A namespace enables its elements to be uniquely identified within its namespace. A package is a namespace for the packageable elements it contains.
A model is a special type of package that contains a set of model elements that describe a domain of interest. The other chapters in Part II describe the different types of model elements, including structural, behavioral, and cross-cutting, and how they are used to describe a subject area of interest. This chapter...
