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.
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
