UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modeling Language (2nd Edition)

As the front page subtitle states, this is a brief guide to the UML. It is also a good one. The first chapter is an introduction to UML, including some short history on the language. The second chapter covers the Development Process with a quick overview of a couple of them - i.e. Agile, RUP, ...- followed by some guidance on choosing the right one. The following chapters cover the main UML diagrams, respectively, the Class, Sequence, Object, Package, Deployment, Use Case, State Machine, Activity, Communication, Composite Structure, Component, Collaboration, Interaction Overview and Timing Diagrams. At the end, there is an appendix that summarizes the changes between UML versions. Not all of the diagrams get in-depth coverage. Whereas Class Diagrams get the most attention of the author with two chapters specifically dedicated to them, Object, Deployment, Communication, Composite Structures, Component, Collaboration, Interaction Overview and Timing Diagrams get only a few pages, between two and four. Some of them are just limited to the sample diagrams that illustrate the chapter, with no or little text to support them. Rather than a shortcoming, this seems to be ensuing from the author's willingness to have the book limited to a few pages - 150 exactly, without the appendix -, covering what he considers to be essential. As such, this book is no replacement for the three classic UML books, i.e. the User's Guide, the Reference Manual and the Unified Process of the Booch/Jacobson/Rumbaugh Object Technology Series that the reader, in my opinion, will anyway have to go through until he/she gains sufficient working proficiency with the language. If the reader's intention is so, he/she'll be better inspired reading "UML Distilled" after, or better, in parallel with the User's Guide, diagram after diagram and have a look at the Reference Manual on selected dictionary terms, as necessary. The Unified Process book can be read independently. This is not a book an OOA/OOD. As prerequisite, the reader is expected to be comfortable enough with OO concepts such as Class, Object, Relationship, Aggregation, Composition, Inheritance, etc. Although not required, working proficiency with a former OO modeling method - e.g. Fusion, in my case - will help. UML Distilled 2nd Edition 1 Cover 1 Front Matter 2 Table Of Contents 4 Forward 7 Preface 8 Structure of the Book 10 Changes for the Second Edition 11 Acknowledgments for the First Edition 12 About the Authors 13 Chapter 1 - Introduction - What is the UML? 14 How We Got Here 15 Notations and Meta-Models 17 Why Do Analysis and Design? 20 Looking for More Information 23 Chapter 2 - An Outline Development Process 24 Overview of the Process 25 Inception 27 Elaboration 28 Planning the Construction Phase 35 Construction 37 Transition 42 When to Use Iterative Development 46 Where to Find Out More 47 Chapter 3 - Use Cases 48 Use Case Diagrams 51 Business and System Use Cases 55 When to Use Use Cases 56 Where to Find Out More 57 Chapter 4 - Class Diagrams: The Essentials 58 Perspectives 60 Associations 61 Attributes 65 Operations 66 Generalization 68 Constraint Rules 69 When to Use Class Diagrams 72 Where to Find Out More 73 Chapter 5 - Interaction Diagrams 74 Sequence Diagrams 75 Collaboration Diagrams 81 Comparing Sequence and Collaboration Diagrams 85 When to Use Interaction Diagrams 88 Chapter 6 - Class Diagrams: Advanced Concepts 89 Stereotypes 90 Object Diagram 91 Class Scope Operations and Attributes 93 Multiple and Dynamic Classification 94 Aggregation and Composition 97 Derived Associations and Attributes 100 Interfaces and Abstract Classes 103 Reference Objects and Value Objects 107 Collections for Multivalued Association Ends 108 Frozen 109 Classification and Generalization 110 Qualified Associations 111 Association Class 113 Parameterized Class 117 Visibility 121 Chapter 7 - Packages and Collaborations 123 Packages 124 Collaborations 129 When to Use Package Diagrams and Collaborations 133 Where to Find Out More 134 Chapter 8 - State Diagrams 135 Concurrent State Diagrams 141 When to Use State Diagrams 145 Where to Find Out More 146 Chapter 9 - Activity Diagrams 147 Decomposing an Activity 152 Dynamic Concurrency 154 Swimlanes 155 When to Use Activity Diagrams 158 Where to Find Out More 160 Chapter 10 - Physical Diagrams 161 Deployment Diagrams 162 Component Diagrams 164 Combining Component and Deployment Diagrams 165 When to Use Physical Diagrams 166 Chapter 11 - UML and Programming 167 Patient Observation: Domain Model 168 Patient Observation: Specification Model 173 Moving to Code 179 Appendix A - Techniques and Their Uses 188 Appendix B - Changes between UML Versions 189 Revisions to the UML 190 Scheduled Future Revisions 191 Changes in UML Distilled 192 Changes from UML 1.0 to 1.1 193 Changes from UML 1.2 (and 1.1) to 1.3 (and 1.4) 195 Bibliography 197 Index - A 200 Index - B 203 Index - C 204 Index - D 207 Index - E 209 Index - F 210 Index - G 211 Index - H 212 Index - I 213 Index - J 215 Index - K 216 Index - L 217 Index - M 218 Index - N 220 Index - O 221 Index - P 222 Index - Q 224 Index - R 225 Index - S 227 Index - T 230 Index - U 231 Index - V 232 Index - W 233 Index - Y 234 Now widely adopted as the de facto industry standard and sanctioned by the Object Management Group, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a notation all software developers need to know and understand. However, the UML is a big language, and not all of it is equally important. The award-winning first edition of UML Distilled was widely praised for being a concise guide to the core parts of the UML and has proved extremely successful in helping developers get up and running quickly. UML Distilled, Second Edition, maintains the concise format with significantly updated coverage of use cases and activity diagrams, and expanded coverage of collaborations. It also includes a new appendix detailing the changes between UML versions.

Written for those with a basic understanding of object-oriented analysis and design, this book begins with a summary of UML's history, development, and rationale and then moves into a discussion of how the UML can be integrated into the object-oriented development process. The primary author profiles the various modeling techniques in the UML--such as use cases, class diagrams, and interaction diagrams--and describes the notation and semantics clearly and succinctly. He also outlines useful non-UML techniques such as CRC cards and patterns. These descriptions are made even more relevant with a collection of best practices based on the primary author's experience and a brief Java programming example demonstrating the implementation of a UML-based design. With this tour of the key parts of the UML, readers will be left with a firm foundation upon which to build models and develop further knowledge of the Unified Modeling Language.

Praise for the First Edition

UML Distilled is a recipient of the prestigious 1997 Software Development Magazine Productivity Award in the Books category. Addison-Wesley congratulates authors Martin Fowler and Kendall Scott for their outstanding work.

This book is a godsend. It is packed with solid advice presented in a concise and highly readable way. The essence of the notations is explained very well indeed but the author goes beyond this to give very clear insights into the application of UML techniques.
-Jennifer Stapleton, Vice President Technical, British Computer Society

UML Distilled is well written, knowledgeable about both systems development and UML, and disarmingly honest.
-Robert L. Glass, The Software Practitioner (March 1998)

UML Distilled proves that you can say a lot of useful things about computing in a small book.
-Gregory V. Wilson, Dr. Dobb's Journal
"Now widely adopted as the de facto industry standard and sanctioned by the Object Management Group, the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a notation all software developers need to know and understand. However, the UML is comprehensive in scope, and not all of it is equally important. The award-winning first edition of UML Distilled was widely praised for being a concise guide to the core parts of the UML and has proved extremely successful in helping developers get up and running quickly. UML Distilled, Second Edition, maintains the concise format but adds significantly updated coverage of use cases and activity diagrams, and expanded coverage of collaborations. It also includes a new appendix detailing the changes between UML versions."--BOOK JACKET. This text was required for one of my Java classes. I was warned about the self agrandizement of this author and the warnings held true. I am a novice programmer and the condescending tone of this book turned me off even tho I'm sure the book is well written if you need someone to tell you that his methods are the only ones with merit. Would not have purchased on my own.