Systems Analysis and Design: An Object-Oriented Approach with UML [Hardcover]

Alan Dennis (Author), Barbara Haley Wixom (Author), David Tegarden (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471413879 | ISBN-13: 978-0471413875 | Publication Date: January 4, 2002 | Edition: 1

Jr/Sr/Grad course (one or two terms) in systems analysis and design. Core course(s) for IS majors. Most texts cover SAD using the "traditional" structured approach (Dennis: SAD). The Object-Oriented models have been growing in importance and the market itself is growing.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The most practical text on SAD–now available in UML!

Get in on the cutting edge of the exciting field of Systems Analysis and Design (SAD) with a book that not only teaches you the basic skills, but how to put them into practice. Adopting a UML object-oriented approach, three recognized SAD experts address the theory and the practice you need to excel in this dynamic and ever-growing field.

Each chapter in the text describes one par of the SAD process, with clear explanations of what it is and how to implement it, along with detailed examples and exercises designed to help you practice what you've learned. The overall focus is on the specific tasks analysis must perform during the course of a project, and the deliverables that will be produced.

Still focused on the SAD basics–and now completely object oriented–the book offers several outstanding features designed to help you become a successful systems analyst:

• Focus on practical, hands-on involvement in the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process.
• Case studies offers rich examples of both success and failure.
• Incorporates object-oriented concepts and techniques throughout.
• Takes a "real world" approach based on the authors' extensive experience in the field.
• Presents topics in the order in which they are encountered in a typical project.
• A strong graphic organization highlights important elements of SAD and ties together steps in the process.
• A supplementary Web site offers a variety of resources designed to complement the learning process.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471413879
• ISBN-13: 978-0471413875
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,081,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Minimally Acceptable as a College Textbook, October 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Systems Analysis and Design: An Object-Oriented Approach with UML (Hardcover)

The authors take on a pretty broad topic, and give it just cursory overview. Their 16 chapters are divided into the broad areas of Planning, Analysis, Design, and Implementation. However, the individual chapters within the text are not well organized within those areas. For example, what are UML Class diagrams and structural modeling doing in the Analysis phase, when they more clearly belong in design? It seems like UML has been pasted into a systems book just so that a current buzzword can end up in the title. When was the last time any of you used CRC cards? Yet they end up in the same chapter with UML diagrams.

Chapter 10, System Architecture Design, is rather disappointing. Although the book mentions terrorist attacks, indicating its 2002 heritage, there is barely a mention of web-based deployment or eCommerce paradigms in this section.

Many of the anecdotes collected as side bars in the book are entertaining, but they don't always make a point relevant to the discussion at hand.

If this is your textbook for a class, pay close attention to the prof. You will get much better insights into System Analysis and Design from a real person with real-world experience, than this cobbled-together book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful for Students and Practitioners, August 25, 2004

By 

Coding Genius "CG" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Systems Analysis and Design: An Object-Oriented Approach with UML (Hardcover)

Having taught system analysis and design in the past, and having taken courses on it, this is one of the better books out there. The difficulty faced by the authors is that there is no "one true" methodology for analyzing and designing systems.

This book does a good job of overviewing the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), and brings real-world examples to the table. An on-going example does a good job of illustrating how all of the diagrams work in a real-world scenario. This is one of the few books to give a strong overview of the entire process, and does not get mired in anecdotal monologues.

Odds are, you will need to read more than one book to understand this subject, and hands on will be needed to be able to implement the techniques used.

I have extensive programming experience, but many of my classmates had none at all, and yet we all found the book informative and interesting.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two Thumbs Up, December 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Systems Analysis and Design: An Object-Oriented Approach with UML (Hardcover)

Alan Dennis and Barbara Wixom make a difficult subject come alive with easy to understand language and real life case studies