Product Description

For nearly ten years, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been the industry standard for visualizing, specifying, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of a software-intensive system. As the de facto standard modeling language, the UML facilitates communication and reduces confusion among project stakeholders. The recent standardization of UML 2.0 has further extended the language's scope and viability. Its inherent expressiveness allows users to model everything from enterprise information systems and distributed Web-based applications to real-time embedded systems.

In this eagerly anticipated revision of the best-selling and definitive guide to the use of the UML, the creators of the language provide a tutorial to its core aspects in a two-color format designed to facilitate learning. Starting with an overview of the UML, the book explains the language gradually by introducing a few concepts and notations in each chapter. It also illustrates the application of the UML to complex modeling problems across a variety of application domains. The in-depth coverage and example-driven approach that made the first edition of The Unified Modeling Language User Guide an indispensable resource remain unchanged. However, content has been thoroughly updated to reflect changes to notation and usage required by UML 2.0.

Highlights include:

• A new chapter on components and internal structure, including significant new capabilities for building encapsulated designs
• New details and updated coverage of provided and required interfaces, collaborations, and UML profiles
• Additions and changes to discussions of sequence diagrams, activity diagrams, and more
• Coverage of many other changes introduced by the UML 2.0 specification

With this essential guide, you will quickly get up to speed on the latest features of the industry standard modeling language and be able to apply them to your next software project.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #183402 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 496 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the most important recent developments in software engineering is the Unified Modelling Language (UML) standard for documenting software designs. Written by UML's inventors (the so-called Three Amigos of software engineering), The Unified Modelling Language User Guide provides a very appealing guide to all the fundamentals of using UML effectively. The book opens with a basic tour of the essential concepts and modelling diagrams used in UML, including class diagrams, use case diagrams and basic modelling principles. The authors pay close attention to modelling classes (and documenting the relationships between classes) as well as use case diagrams (which show how software will be used by various actors in a system). This book mixes in a little software engineering theory, too, but it makes use of clear examples and actual UML diagrams to illustrate key concepts.

Later in the book, the authors discuss more difficult notational diagrams (such as state diagrams and activity diagrams, which can be used to model behaviour in a system). Whatever your background in software engineering, you'll no doubt appreciate the author's clear explanations of basic (and advanced) modelling concepts, as well as the nuts-and-bolts details of today's powerful UML. With its combination of expert modelling advice and excellent detail on the specifics of UML, this book will be absolutely essential reading for anyone who wants to use UML for real- world software design. --Richard Dragan, Amazon.com

From the Publisher
From the creators of UML!
Just as architects and musicians need architectural drawings or music scores to be written using standard notations that everyone agrees on and understands, developers need a single, common, widely usable modeling language for the development of software systems. The UML has been proposed as this standard and has received the support of academic and industry heavyweights.

The Unified Modeling Language User Guide is the first of three definitive UML works written by the creators of UML, Grady Booch, Jim Rumbaugh, and Ivar Jacobson. Together these three widely respected and world-famous methodologists form an unbeatable author team representing combined worldwide sales of their prior individual books of more than 250,000 copies. This book will introduce the core 80% of the UML, approaching it in a layered fashion and providing numerous examples of its application. The Unified Modeling Language User Guide is suitable for developers unfamiliar with UML or with modeling in general.

From the Back Cover

For nearly ten years, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been the industry standard for visualizing, specifying, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of a software-intensive system. As the de facto standard modeling language, the UML facilitates communication and reduces confusion among project stakeholders. The recent standardization of UML 2.0 has further extended the language's scope and viability. Its inherent expressiveness allows users to model everything from enterprise information systems and distributed Web-based applications to real-time embedded systems.

In this eagerly anticipated revision of the best-selling and definitive guide to the use of the UML, the creators of the language provide a tutorial to its core aspects in a two-color format designed to facilitate learning. Starting with an overview of the UML, the book explains the language gradually by introducing a few concepts and notations in each chapter. It also illustrates the application of the UML to complex modeling problems across a variety of application domains. The in-depth coverage and example-driven approach that made the first edition of The Unified Modeling Language User Guide an indispensable resource remain unchanged. However, content has been thoroughly updated to reflect changes to notation and usage required by UML 2.0.

Highlights include:

• A new chapter on components and internal structure, including significant new capabilities for building encapsulated designs
• New details and updated coverage of provided and required interfaces, collaborations, and UML profiles
• Additions and changes to discussions of sequence diagrams, activity diagrams, and more
• Coverage of many other changes introduced by the UML 2.0 specification

With this essential guide, you will quickly get up to speed on the latest features of the industry standard modeling language and be able to apply them to your next software project.

Customer Reviews

An excellent book
I purchased this book on the strength of a reference by a reviewer of another book. I cannot praise this book highly enough. I am fairly new to UML and needed a book for my MSc studies. This book is clear, well laid out, and thorough. There are frequent, discrete references in the margin to sections where more detailed information on a subject can be found. I am now using it as a reference for a real-world application and it is proving invaluable. It is a joy to pick up and read. I cannot fault it.

What you need to know on UML notation is in this book
I was looking forward to this books for a lot of months. I wasn't deceived. The book covers in-depth every UML concepts and techniques( structural, behavioral and architectural modelings ). Each chapter are well-written and clear. Each concept is applied with a lot of good examples from real life. Moreover, it is easy to read. Novices will be able to learn smoothly and clearly UML notation. Experts will find a complete reference and plenty of good tips and tricks. Unfortunately, I was expected more details on mapping between UML and programming languages ( Java and C++ ). Apart from that, it's an outstanding book. Buy it now !!!!

Lots of interesting stuff - except the answers I want
I was initially pleased to discover this book in my local shop, but as time has passed I have realised that I am merely gleaning tidbits of information when I should be storming to new levels of understanding and confidence with the UML. The problem seems to be a lack of examples that deal with anything other than simple canonical designs. When I tried to reverse engineer an old project I just could not find the answers I needed.

Example 1: In a class diagram how does one represent an object that is created by a factory object and passed to another object which is then it's owner - I opted for composition with the made-up stereotype <> but gained no confidence anywhere that this was the right thing to do.

Example 2: <> sounds like a very useful thing if your problem involves polymorphism - a common scenario in OO-design. But have I misunderstood what it's for? My class contains a pointer to a base class which at runtime could be an object of any derivative. Is that a dependency on a powertype?

I resent being in the position of understanding OO-design quite well but being held back by a tool which should be my servant and not my master. This book should be changing that relationship more than it is. More examples please!