Customer Reviews

UML 2 and the Unified Process: Practical Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (2nd Edition)

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

 

 

UML has grown. A few years ago, when UML was just getting accepted, a book on how to use it would have been much thinner. But the successful broad uptake of UML led to its semantic notation being expanded. What the authors give us here is a thorough exposition of UML 2.0 and how to use it.

As you might expect, there are numerous examples in UML. Which, to many readers, might be more understandable than a mere abstract diagram. But the book is more than just about explaining the UML semantics. It also goes into the Unified Process for running a project, and how this can be documented in UML. By doing so, the authors hope to better enable an understanding of both.

There is also something else, related to the above, but sufficiently different and important to warrant notice. If you write in any object oriented language, it requires certain skills in designing classes and how they interact. Part 4 of the book concerns these issues, which it discusses under the rubric of "Design". A good explanation of the basic concepts. Like inheritance versus aggregation, or inheritance versus interfaces. Or why the lack of multiple inheritance in a language like C# or Java is not necessarily a deficiency.

Before reading this book I read "The Unified Modeling Language User Guide". I can say that "The Unified Modeling Language User Guide" is about the theory and "UML 2 and the Unified Process..." is about practice.

I think that both books are must for UML beginners and reference for the UML professionals.

In "UML 2 and the Unified Process.." authors show UML in action within the Unified Process, a framework for software development. The book describes how to analyze and design a software by giving a real example. Given examples are also complete and available online.

The language of the book is simple (easy to understand) and its contents is organized very well.

This book gave me an insight about the UML and also introduced me to the Unified Process. I would recommend it with 5+ stars to everybody.

This book gives a good introduction into modern software enigeering and I think that especially the first chapters about basics in object orientation and how the whole process works should be read by every person participating in a software project. I think these chapters are also worth reading for non computer science people.

As a matter of fact I'm not an UML fan nor I particularly favour unified process. Indeed, I'm much more into Agile Development and XP.

The authors do not try to explain why unified process should be better than other processes. They just describe the method: It's up to the reader to decide which parts of the method are good or bad for his job. The reader is not bored with long enthusiastic comments on how he will be a more capable engineer after learning UML and UP. Unified Process is described in an unbiased and precise way: even those who do not favour UP may gather new and interesting ideas to incorporate in their development method.

The approach on UML is even more interesting. The basic ideas is that graphics should be a view, but what matters is text (which *is* something that the UML creators *did* think). Far to many lesser books focus on diagrams and miss to explain the interesting part is their semantics and their descriptions. Indeed, I try not to use UML unless I'm rather sure it's the best way to express a given concept: this book is a helpful reference on how to write correct and practical specifications using UML.

This is a great useful book.

I would have titled this book the other way around, i.e. "The Unified Process and UML2", as it literally maps the UML building blocks to the UP core workflows: Requirements, Analysis, Design, Implementation and Test.

The book starts with an introductory Part 1 in which the authors provide short summaries of UML and UP. Then, follow 4 parts of several chapters each, that cover the first four UP core workflows in the order listed above. Last part, Part 6, titled Supplementary Material, includes an introduction to OCL (Object Constraint Language).

The coverage of the UP core workflows goes well beyond the simple mapping of building blocks, as the authors provide step-by-step, comprehensive guidance on how the fulfill the workflow's objectives through UML. Options are discussed, pitfalls addressed.
UML syntax/notation and OO concepts are reminded in the book as necessary, but this is neither an UML nor an OO tutorial. Basic knowledge of both is a prerequisite. I read this book right after the UML User Guide.

What I liked most is the clear, direct, accessible language this book is written in and the comprehensive coverage of UP through UML it provides. I also liked the "What we have learned" section that summarizes each chapter and the introduction to OCL.

What I found to be lacking, however, is the coverage of the last UP core flow listed above: Test. Surprisingly, the book stops at Implementation. Knowing the importance of testing as a configuration controlled set of tasks usually divided into Unit, Integration and Validation Tests and taking into account the test software and stubs created for such purpose - not part of the application -, I believe this workflow should have been addressed, at least, with regard to versioning, test case management and test software/stubs interfacing with the components of the actual application.

I would also recommend the authors to drop the Book Roadmap and Chapter Roadmaps they provide at the beginning of the book and of each chapter in form of UML Activity Diagrams. This book is not a reference manual. It deserves linear reading, from the beginning to the end, at the reader's own variable pace depending on the comfort he/she experiences going through the various chapters and sections that make it up.

Overall, this is a very good book that I can recommend.

I used this in my undergrad degree. It is one of few books that I kept from my undergrad and still gets frequent use. I would recommend this to anyone that wants to learn UML.

good for for learning about UML. I bought because I had to for a class in the University, but didn't see it all. I had a bad teacher, but with a good one, or even learning by yourself, its a good book to learn the UML ways.