Today, a software designer or architect who seeks to represent the design of a software system can choose from a wide variety of notational languages, each aligned with a particular analysis and design methodology. Ironically, this wide variety of choice is one impediment to the significant benefits promised by software reuse. The emergence of the Unified Modeling Language (UML)-created by the joint efforts of leading object technologists Grady Booch, Ivar Jacobson, and James Rumbaugh with contributions from many others in the object community-represents one of the most significant developments in object technology. Supported by a broad base of industry-leading companies, the UML merges the best of the notations used by the three most popular analysis and design methodologies, Booch, OOSE (use-cases), and OMT, to produce a single, universal modeling language that can be used with any method.

Written for those already grounded in object-oriented analysis and design, this concise overview introduces you to UML, highlighting the key elements of its notation, semantics, and processes. Included is a brief explanation of UML's history, development, and rationale, as well as discussions on how UML can be integrated into the object-oriented development process. In addition, the book profiles various modeling techniques associated with UML-use cases, CRC cards, design by contract, dynamic classification, interfaces, and abstract classes-along with concise descriptions of notation and semantics and numerous insightful tips for effective use based on the authors' experience. In addition, the authors offer the first look at the emerging Objectory Software Development Process derived from the methodologies of Grady Booch, Ivar Jacobson, and James Rumbaugh. To give you a feel for the UML in action, the book includes a Java programming example that outlines the implementation of a UML-based design.

You will come away with an excellent understanding of UML essentials, insight into how UML functions within the software development process, and a firm foundation upon which to expand and build your knowledge of the Unified Modeling Language.

Many working programmers have little time for keeping up with the latest advances from the world of software engineering. UML Distilled: Applying the Standard Object Modeling Language provides a quick, useful take on one of the field's most important recent developments: the emergence of the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

UML Distilled offers a useful perspective on what UML is and what it's good for. The author, an experienced software engineer, gives his own opinions of which diagrams are best to use. He is never doctrinaire and is always willing to put common sense design ahead of rigid adherence to models and documents. He runs through the basic notation used in UML for such design documents as use case, class, sequence, state, activity, and deployment diagrams. In addition, he includes concise examples of the details of working with objects, with an excellent step-by-step rendition of many of the details involved in UML. The author even includes some actual C++ code so you can see what all these design documents lead to.

You'll need some idea of what software engineering is in order to benefit from this book. However, if you have the appropriate background, you'll find this book invaluable in understanding this emerging new standard, which has the potential to bring solid software engineering to many developers who have never used disciplined software design techniques before.