“If you are a serious user of UML, there is no other book quite like this one. I have been involved with the UML specification process for some time, but I still found myself learning things while reading through this book—especially on the changes and new capabilities that have come with UML.”
—
Ed Seidewitz, Chief Architect, IntelliData Technologies Corporation
The latest version of the Unified Modeling Language—UML 2.0—has increased its capabilities as the standard notation for modeling software-intensive systems. Like most standards documents, however, the official UML specification is difficult to read and navigate. In addition, UML 2.0 is far more complex than previous versions, making a thorough reference book more essential than ever.
In this significantly updated and expanded edition of the definitive reference to the standard, James Rumbaugh, Ivar Jacobson, and Grady Booch—the UML’s creators—clearly and completely describe UML concepts, including major revisions to sequence diagrams, activity models, state machines, components, internal structure of classes and components, and profiles. Whether you are capturing requirements, developing software architectures, designing implementations, or trying to understand existing systems, this is the book for you.
Highlights include:
- Alphabetical dictionary of articles covering every UML concept
- Integrated summary of UML concepts by diagram type
- Two-color diagrams with extensive annotations in blue
- Thorough coverage of both semantics and notation, separated in each article for easy reference
- Further explanations of concepts whose meaning or purpose is obscure in the original specifications
- Discussion sections offering usage advice and additional insight into tricky concepts
- Notation summary, with references to individual articles
- A hyperlinked version of the book in Adobe Reader format on CD-ROM, an excellent resource for browsing or searching the text for specific information
- An enhanced online index available on the book’s web site allowing readers to quickly and easily search the entire text for specific topics
The result is an indispensable resource for anyone who needs to understand the inner workings of the industry standard modeling language.
Written by the three pioneers behind the Unified Modeling Language (UML) standard,
The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual provides an excellent real-world guide to working with UML. This title provides expert knowledge on all facets of today's UML standard, helping developers who are encountering UML on the job for the first time to be more productive.
The book begins with a history of UML, from structured design methods of the '60s and '70s to the competing object-oriented design standards that were unified in 1997 to create UML. For the novice, the authors illustrate key diagram types such as class, use case, state machine, activity, and implementation. (Of course, learning these basic diagram types is what UML is all about. The authors use an easy-to-understand ticket-booking system for many of their examples.)
After a tour of basic document types, The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual provides an alphabetical listing of more than 350 UML terms. Entries range from a sentence or two to several pages in length. (Class, operation, and use case are just a few of the important terms that are covered.) Though you will certainly need to be acquainted with software engineering principles, this reference will serve the working software developer well. As the authors note, this isn't UML for Dummies, but neither is it an arcane academic treatise. The authors succeed in delivering a readable reference that will answer any UML question, no matter how common or obscure. --Richard Dragan
