Product Description

Requirements Analysis & System Design with CD is suitable for both computer science and informations systems curricula, as well as practitioners working on OO software projects (for whom the author runs regular training courses).  Software development takes place in three stages: analysis, design and programming. This second edition describes the methods and techniques used in the first two of these stages, emphasising object-oriented techniques that can be applied to the development of large-scale applications and capitalising on the popularity of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the latest software production technologies. The text teaches by example throughout. Separate chapters are dedicated to a guided tutorial in analysis and in design. Four application areas are discussed to help explain independent topics, and these build into running case studies through the book. A fifth application is described in end-of-chapter exercises  and can be used to formulate student assignments or specifications for a larger project. Throughout, the principles, methods and techniques of good analysis and design are covered. Design is not treated as simply a transformation from good analysis, but as a complex "value-added" mapping of models that can result in a successful implementation. The difficulties and intricacies of large-scale OO development are acknowledged and the reader is given a balanced blend of practical explanation and theoretical insight.  

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #637236 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

From the Back Cover

Object-oriented analysis and design/UML/Enterprise information systems

From reviews of the first edition:

"Students are doing much better in their assignments than the previous year when a different textbook was used." Jian Yang, Tilburg University, The Netherlands

"A much more realistic taste of what design is really about than most other textbooks." Karl Cox, Bournemouth University, UK

"Brilliant - buy it!" Chas Newport, System Developer, Invokon Ltd, UK

Do you want to design cutting-edge enterprise information systems? Do you want to learn the principles, methods and techniques behind successful analysis and design and be able to put this theory into practice? The second edition of this best-selling book will guide you through this process, helping you deal with the challenges involved, to develop large-scale object-oriented systems in an iterative and incremental way. The approach, further built on in this new edition, is distinctive because it:

• relates theory to reality, with practical problems and limitations that would have to be addressed in the real world;
• pays special attention to the design phase, acknowledging the difficulties and intricacies of large-scale system development; and
• provides an enormous number of non-trivial examples and exercises.

The case studies and tutorials that will help you learn by example have been taken from the following varied application domains: online shopping, advertising expenditure, contact management, time logging, telemarketing, university enrolment and video store. Each has its own unique features and educational benefits.

The second edition has been substantially updated, broadening the coverage and ensuring the book is up-to-date in the technology-influenced area of systems development. Key changes from the last edition are:

• use of UML 2.0 and occasional use of Java code to further explain the meaning of more complex UML models;
• a "crash course" on object technology and object modeling, following requirements analysis and prior to requirements specifications with UML;
• a "crash course" on system architecture and program design prior to the detailed discussion about distributed client/server system design;
• a new discussion about user interface design with user experience (UX) storyboards and discussing the mapping between business objects and relational databases; and
• significant expansion of the guided tutorial on online shopping, making this a separate chapter for review and reinforcement at the end of the book.

Whether you are a student on a computer science or information systems course, or someone working in industry wanting up-to-date practical help based on a sound theoretical footing, this book will be of lasting benefit to you.

Leszek A. Maciaszek is an Associate Professor of Computing at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He is an academic and international consultant working mainly in the design and implementation of enterprise applications, databases and object technology. His other books include Database Design and Implementation (Prentice Hall 1990) and Practical Software Engineering (Addison Wesley 2005).

Customer Reviews

Very useful book, especially on architectural design
This book focuses on information systems and does and excellent job of describing their complexities, providing a much more realistic taste of what design is really about than most other text books.

The earlier chapters on analysis focus on typical use case and class modelling. The introduction of the database class layer between entity classes and the database itself brings more realism to modelling than most text books consider.

The architectural structures imposed on the analysis and design dramatically help in designing information and ecommerce systems (which I'm doing at the moment).

The one major problem with the book, and this appears to be a growing trend in text books, is the chapter on interface design. Interface design is such a monster topic that it should be left to whole textbooks and not to a few pages that tend to paint an overly simplistic view of the subject.

Another potential weakness is the almost complete reliance on collaboration diagrams in design with consequent passing reference to the other UML diagrams.

Despite these reservations, I highly recommend the book.

Highly recommended as a textbook for IS analysis and design
We used this book as the textbook for our 3rd year object oriented analysis and design course. As a lecturer I found this book is well structured and well balanced between examples and theorectical concepts. The students found the book is quite easy to follow because of the very well selected and presented examples. As the result, the students were doing much better in their assignments than previous year when a different textbook was used.

The only problem I found with this book is Chapter 2.2, in which some of the concepts are used and introduced before they are discussed in details in other chapters.

Nevertheless I highly recommend this book as a textbook for Information Systems Analysis and Design course.

An example to be followed...
This is the first time I've been sufficiently impressed by a book to connect to the internet with the specific purpose of praising it. My wife and I are both experienced software engineers of 15 years but new to UML and Object Oriented analysis and technology. We have both found this book invaluable in helping us make the shift to this new way of thinking and it would probably be even easier for those starting from scratch. The book is beautifully structured and not as prone to excessive wordiness as some others I've attempted to read (and largely failed to finish!) Brilliant - buy it!