The Unified Software Development Process (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series) (Hardcover)

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

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
A software process defines the steps required to create software successfully. Written by the same authors who brought you the Unified Modeling Language (UML), The Unified Software Development Process introduces a new standard for creating today's software that will certainly be useful for any software developer or manager who is acquainted with UML.

Early sections introduce four basic principles of the unified process: that software should stress use cases (which show how it interacts with users), that the process is architecture-centric, and that it is iterative and incremental. The authors then apply these principles to their software process, which involves everything from gathering system requirements to analysis, design, implementation, and testing. The use-case examples are excellent and include concrete examples drawn from such areas as banking and inventory control.

The authors point out the connection between UML document types (like use cases, class diagrams, and state transition diagrams) with various models used throughout the software process. They provide very short, real-world examples that illustrate how their ideas have been successfully applied. The straightforward tour of the new unified software process gets extra elaboration--along with some advice--in later chapters that further describe the author's ideas on design. With the weight of these three expert authors behind it, readers can expect The Unified Software Development Process to be an important book and one that will be valuable to any working designer or manager. --Richard Dragan

Product Description
Presents a complete guide to the Unified Process from the original designers. Demonstrates how the notation and process compliment one another, using UML models to illustrate the new process in action. Clearly describes the semantics and notation of the different higher-level constructs used in the models. DLC: Computer software--Development.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (February 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201571692
• ISBN-13: 978-0201571691
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #290,579 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I can't believe I actually finished it, January 2, 2000

By	Sean Kelly "Consultant" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After mastering the Unified Modeling Language, it's a natural progression to apply UML in a documented and time-tested process. That's what the creators of UML set out to describe in this third book of the UML-Big-Three, "The Unified Software Development Process."

Getting through this book will be challenging, though. You'll be thirsty not for more material, but a glass of water by the time you're done. It is bone-dry.

The Unified process has five workflows (requirements, analysis, design, build, test) that repeat within four phases (inception, elaboration, construction, transition). There are unfortunately huge chapters devoted to each of the workflows and each of the phases separately, with only a smaller amount of material focusing on how the process is actually done, which is each workflow occuring in the context of each phase. As a result, the book seems a lot bigger than it needs to be. (I'm not panning the process, though, which does indeed work, just the presentation.)

There's a running example through the text of building an automated teller application. While running examples help unify ideas, they show a narrow view of how the process can work in practice. In applying the process to my projects, it's difficult to translate such a financial application to my work (which is scientific and library-based in nature). I'd like to see a lot more examples that give alternative viewpoints in addition to the running example that demonstrates the process as a whole.

Unlike the other two books of the Big-Three, the diagrams in this one are the best. They're clean, consistent, and easy to read, and there are a lot of them. It's professionally typeset and each page is pretty.

What we need is a book similar to Fowler's "UML Distilled" called "Unified Process Distilled." The process is great---it just shouldn't take 500 pages to describe it.

85 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A long-winded re-iteration of the obvious., February 20, 2000

By	Tom O Bjorkholm (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews

This book is really a long-winded re-iteration of the obvious. Some sound engineering practices are described in the the book. But, they are not new, and they could easily have been described in 50 - 100 pages instead of almost 500 pages. To make things worse, the book is written in a dull style.

This book also tries to teach some UML from a project manager perspective. The result is not very pedagogic. To learn UML I recommend a book on UML (like "The Unified Modeling Language User Guide" or "UML Distilled") for both project managers and programmers.

If you are looking for information on how to run software projects or on sound software development processes I would recommend "Rapid Development" by Steve McConnel and "Software Project Survival Guide" (also by Steve McConnel). "Rapid Development" provides a better description of the iterative development processes, together with a wealth of other useful information not found in "The Unified Software Process".

I am concerned by the way that the artifacts (documents, models) are presented. There are long lists of artifacts presented as the result of each work-flow and of each phase. I understand that this must be adopted to each organization and each product type. But there is a risk that organizations adopting to "The Unified Software Development Process" end up as bureaucratic monsters, producing documents instead of software. Unfortunately the present "guru" status of the three authors will probably increase this risk.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst book ever, December 5, 2000

By	Tom VonOxford "schabetc" (Oxford, Oh USA) - See all my reviews

I have been teaching Systems Analysis for over 30 years. This is the worst textbook I have used in those 30 years. The writing style is atrocious. The sentences are so belabored. In a single sentence one may find parenthetical expressions, references to other parts of the book and conditional expressions. Here's a typical example "However, the elements defined in the design model are the "design counterparts" of the more conceptual elements defined in the analysis model in the sense that the former (design) elements are adapted to the implementation environment whereas the latter (analysis) elements are not".

Need I say more?

Most diagrams are about the USDP rather than diagrams about the artifacts that the USDP requires. Never is there a really good illustration of the blood and guts of the process, a "Use Case".

I had 72 students ready to lynch me. It was the worst mistake I ever made in the textbook selection process.