Difference between Uses and Extends

 Difference between Uses and Extends

Probably the best way to think about these diagram elements is as follows:-

"X uses Y" indicates that the task "X" has a subtask "Y"; that is, in the process of completing task "X", task "Y" will be completed at least once.

"X extends Y" indicates that "X" is a task for the same type as "Y", but "X" is a special, more specific case of doing "Y". That is, doing X is a lot like doing Y, but X has a few extra processes to it that go above and beyond the things that must be done in order to complete Y.

Uses and Extend Arrows in Use Case Diagram

Uses Arrow:

The uses arrow (or uses edge as it would be called in traditional graph theory) is drawn from a use case X to another use case Y to indicate that the process of doing X always involves doing Y at least once (although it may involve doing it many times, "at least once" is the only relationship guaranteed by this symbol.) This symbol can be referred to as an aggregation operator, because it indicates that a given use case is an aggregate (made up of parts) whose components are the use cases that it uses. If a certain use case uses several others, that means that all of the component use cases must be completed in the process of completing the aggregate use case, although there is no specification in Use Case Diagrams of the order in which these are completed. A brief, mnemonic way to think about the uses arrow is that it can be read X uses Y means that "X has a Y" as part of it's behaviour. 

Extends Arrow:

The extends arrow (or extends edge) is drawn from a use case X to a use case Y to indicate that the process X is a special case behaviour of the same type as the more general process Y. You would use this in situations where your system has a number of use cases (processes) that all have some subtasks in common, but each one has something different about it that makes it impossible for you to just lump them all together into the same use case.