Customer Reviews

UML 2 For Dummies

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've attempted to wade through many, many UML texts. Most have two things in common - they overwhelm you with terminology and/or they generally bore you to tears. Chonoles and Schardt's book was a pleasant surprise. They do a great job of simplifying concepts and diagramming techniques. And best of all, they don't weigh you down with terminology prematurely. They introduce buzzwords and phrases as they're needed in the text.

As for the downside, the only thing I can really complain about is the use of examples in the text. They beat on the same example(s) over and over (I feel like I know everything there is to know about air filters). Repetitive examples like that create a bit of a monotonous tone. But they do in fact get their point across, so it's ok I suppose.

For folks looking for a definitive reference to UML 2, this is not the book. It's an introductory book only. But it's a GREAT introductory book. A true gem for UML neophytes.

"UML 2 for Dummies" is an excellent source for both students and users of UML. I was looking for a good tutorial on how UML 2 might affect systems engineering documents and found it here. Having completed the book, the reader should expect to be able to recognize and understand UML 2 diagrams and to comprehend the role of the various diagram types in the engineering process. The reader will also be able to prepare UML 2 diagrams to implement his own designs using the book as a reference. If your project is moving toward UML and object-oriented techniques or, if you just want to understand what system engineers and software designers are doing these days, this book is a good investment of your time.

My impression of most "For Dummies" books has been that, while offering excellent introduction to a given subject, their lack of depth almost always leads to a follow-up purchase on the subject. That is NOT the case here: "UML 2 For Dummies" was an excellent tutorial for a UML novice like myself, and has continued to be a valuable reference as the software team I work with further incorporates UML into our development process.

I took a UML class at university and was having difficulty understanding the textbooks. I bought this book to help me understand the concepts, which this book did admirably. When I showed up in class with this book, the instructor told everyone how great the book is, and he used the examples in class. Excellent book!

As a system developer using UML for the first time, this book has been a great introduction to the techniques of analysis using UML 2, as well as a handy reference to pick up when I have a particular question about a diagram. Recommended!

This book is certainly a good investment. The depth and detail of the book are good to clear and understand the concepts. This helps in lot in the preparation and also in the learning and knowledge.

A nicely written book.

This book has an apprehensible way of introducing the main principles of UML and provides a step-by-step flow delivery. It helps the novice to gather a complete view of the areas involved while supplying a sufficient level of detail without overloading at the same time. Equally practioners will find it a handy guide for quick reference and tool application verification.

This book, as the whole series, is not targeted at the expert user, who demands in-depth analysis of all levels of UML. Thus, a degree of conceptual granularity a novice would feel overwhelmed with, which is successfully avoided by book. Thereby it is perfect in meeting its target of introductionary yet coherent provision of UML concepts.

Experts, however, will feel more at home with the UML-Bible.

This is a fine book and I am sure I will refer to it often but here are a few items I would like to see fixed in the 2nd edition:
* I had to flip to the next page too many times to see the figure of a diagram as I was reading the text that introduced it. Please put the figure before the text or make sure it is on the facing page.
* This book is mainly about diagrams but the figure-to-text ratio was too low.
* I thought some of the UML examples were a bit off.

This book is exactly as advertised. It's a great place to get a pretty good overview of UML. It is relatively easy to read with examples that are easy to follow and are used repeatedly throughout the book. The first five parts of the book cover Objects, Use Cases, Sequenece Diagrams, State Diagrams, etc. and I thought that was pretty good. Part 6 was called Modeling the System's Architecture which I found less usefull. The final section covers modeling tools, common mistakes and other references.

This book is not a complete reference but I think it is a good place to get started before jumping into a deeper exploration of UML. One thing I find lacking in the few books I have looked at is there is no notation summary, and this book is no exception.

I especially liked the "go to code" descriptions which described how you can take the model and implement the solution in software. There were a few of these. More would even be better. This book is not language specific, but I think some C++ or Java experience will help.

Overall I think it put me in a good position to pick up a more advanced text which is what I was after. If that is your goal I would recommend this book.

If you don't know a thing abut UML2 and would like to jump start the learning process this book is for you. Quick to access, easy to comprehend even when the material becomes rather complicated. I would recommend this book to anyone who would seriously like to learn more about UML2