The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series) (Hardcover)

by James Rumbaugh (Author), Ivar Jacobson (Author), Grady Booch (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
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

Product Description
The authors have done an outstanding job with this UML book. The definitions of the terms are the best I have seen. The organization and material in the encyclopedia are fantastic!
-Perry Cole, MCIWorldCom

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has rapidly become the standard notation for modeling software-intensive systems. This book provides the definitive description of UML from its original developers--James Rumbaugh, Ivar Jacobson, and Grady Booch. Whether you are capturing requirements, developing a software architecture, designing the implementation, or trying to understand an existing system, this is the book for you.

The majority of the book is a unique alphabetical list of articles covering every aspect of UML in a form convenient for quick reference and detailed study. This format permits full coverage of UML details as well as high-level articles without confusing the reader by constant shifts in level. The first part of the book--a complete summary of UML concepts organized by subject area--provides an introduction to UML for the newcomer as well as entry points into the detailed articles.

Highlights of the book include:
Two-color diagrams, extensively annotated
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
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
Full text of the UML specification documents on CD-ROM, courtesy of the Object Management Group
Notation summary, with hyperlinks to individual articles on CD-ROM

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (January 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 020130998X
• ISBN-13: 978-0201309980
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #961,901 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid reference source, December 31, 1999

By	Martin Fowler (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

Let's be clear - this book is a reference manual, not a tutorial. Don't use this book to learn what the UML is all about. But when you want to answer a question about how to show something or what something means, then this book is invaluable. It's my first reference choice because, unlike the specification, it is written with explanation in mind. I turn to it more than any other UML book and so far I've found that when this can't answer my question, it's because the UML designers haven't thought about it yet.

So to sum up: if you use the UML seriously, make sure you have a copy handy.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Accurate, complete (for UML 1.*); not for UML beginners, June 18, 2001

By	Daniel Duffy (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This book is one in a series of three by the three amigos. It is certainly the most authoritative and accurate of all three (the other two being very fuzzy in places). The book consists of the following major sections:

I: Background (some history) II: UML concepts (static, use case, statechart and other 'views') III: Reference

This book is pure syntax and can answer most of the questions that you might have about UML syntax. However, this book is not for beginners because it assumes (in my opinion) that you have applied UML to real-life situations. I find the book to be well-written (even if it is fairly dry) and compares favouably with other books in the UML series. There are different ways that you can use this book. First, you can consult it to check of you are using the correct UML syntax in your applications. Second, you can use it to deteremine what you have still to learn in UML (for example, activity diagrams, statecharts). This book should complement the other, more application-specific UML books. For example, it could be seen as a follow-up of Fowler's somewhat outdated UML Primer.

It would have been a good idea if the authors had included a complete test case showing how all the specific 'views' are documented and how they fit together. UML has about 11 different views and which one to use and when will be a major undertaking if you are embarking on a first project.

This book will be outdated as soon as the new UML 2.0 specification is ready. Do the authors have plans for a new version of their book "UML Reference 2.0"?

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Power UML developer's companion, September 16, 1999

By	Daniel Moth (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is by no means an introductory text. It assumes you already know UML. I do not think it would be of any value to managers or students. It is also of little value to developers that are happy downloading the 808 page UML specification and crunching through it. For the power UML engineer that needs to refer to the UML constructs, elements and semantics and discover new ones quickly when designing systems, this book will come in very handy indeed. Unlike other (valuable) UML books, this one will come down from the bookshelf often.