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Summary: Comprehensive coverage of UML
Review: This is a great book on UML written by three leading methodologists at Rational Rose (Jacobson, Booch, and Rumbaugh) who solicited input from the major software players in the industry during the development of UML.I read most of the UML Toolkit book that was published before the UML Users Guide, but it was rather dry reading and didn't cover UML comprehensively like the UML Users Guide does. After reading the UML Users guide, and maybe the Unified Process by the same authors, you can apply this knowledge to manage the complexity and architecture of large systems, assuming that not only do you understand all of the UML notation, but know how to apply it through education, training and expertise. The UML Users guide is well written and has very short granular chapters that cover one self-contained concept of the UML. It is a must read for any serious software engineer who wants to speak a common modeling language and get beyond a code and fix type approach to development.
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Summary: OO folks out there, grab this book!
Review: This is the best book on UML. An excellent book on all aspects of UML methodology. This book comes from those who framed the methodology and that aspect makes it more valuable to the reader, experienced or otherwise. The book starts of with reasons for modeling with real world examples. For a novice, this will be the best introduction to modeling - why is it needed in the first place. The book also describes the evolution of UML (best practises of OOSE,OMT and Booch) which will benefit people in all levels of software engineering. Any modeling technique needs to address the following three components a) Structural b) Behavioral and c) Architecture. This book contains explanations for all of the above three components in separate sections. Even advance behavioral/structural modeling is discussed. The structural modeling is described with explanations on a) Objects & classes b) relationship between classes c) class diagrams The behavioral modeling is described with explanations on a) use case diagrams b) interaction diagrams c) activity diagrams and importantly d) state charts to name a few. The architecture modeling is described with explanations on deployment, collaborations and component diagrams to name a few. I would recommend interested OO developers/managers to acquire this book as a reference material for OO development needs.
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Summary: The Reference Manual is a better buy
Review: I have read both the User's Guide and the Reference Manual, which are generally intended to be bought as a pair. The Reference Manual is better organized, and is an invaluable resource for anyone who does a lot of UML modeling. This book, however, is just a dump of UML information, fairly ecletic but not always in sufficient depth. It is good information, but the poor organization makes it useless after the initial reading. If you are looking to learn UML, it IS possible to get a good feel for it from this book. However, something like "UML for Dummies" will also give you a good introduction, at a better price. If you will be modeling a lot, and want a deep understanding of UML, then it would be wiser to buy the Reference Manual instead.
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Summary: A User's Guide, no more...no less
Review: I didn't know much about UML when I started reading this book and feel that it's given me some good grounding. But I suspect that there are probably books on the subject that are specifically aimed at introducing it to beginners and do a more effective job of that. This is more of a reference book. It's well-cross referenced and I find it much more helpful for looking up individual terms, diagram types, etc. than when I read it front-to-back. What I was hoping to gain from the book is a better sense of when, where, and why you would be creating the different diagrams and how it all fits into a development life-cycle. Evidently, this kind of information is left to other "Three Amigos" books. I'm inclined to agree with other reviewers who feel that this book is "wordier" than it really needs to be. They repeatedly use an analogy to building a house that gets nearly as tiresome as it is obvious. But if you find UML to be useful, necessary, or just intersting, this would be a good book to have in your library.
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Summary: This is a book that get us all pointed in the same direction
Review: In an industry rapidly being filled with books of dubious value on object modeling using the Unified Modeling Language (UML), the UML User Guide is a welcome addition. This book is written by the "3 Amigos": Grady Booch, Jim Rumbaugh and Ivar Jacobson, the originators of UML, so we know they have an intimate relationship with the language and object modeling If you are going to use the Unified Modeling Language (UML) in your projects, this book should be on your desk if only because (a) it is based on the latest version of UML (version 1.3) and (b) it is very readable. But beyond these recommendations it has great value for newbies as well as experienced modelers. Each chapter of the book has the same structure. "Getting Started" motivates the objectives and discussion of the chapter in non-technical terms. Then "Terms and Concepts" introduces the notation and terminology covered in the chapter. "Common Modeling Techniques" allow the authors to show how the concepts and notation are applied to specific modeling areas. Finally, each chapter ends with "Hints and Tips" such as the characteristics of a well-structured statechart, or how to use stereotyping to visually convey the intent of a relationship. The layout of the notation examples is excellent if you want to use this book as a way of learning UML, although it is not strictly a tutorial on UML. Annotations on the notation examples are printed in blue color, which makes the notation diagrams very easy to understand. References to other sections of the book are also in blue in the margins of the pages, and the color separation keeps the pages from feeling cluttered. Topically, the book progresses from basic and advanced structural modeling (primarily class and object diagrams), to basic and advanced behavioral modeling (i.e., interaction diagrams, statechart diagrams, use cases and use case diagrams, and activity diagrams). A lengthy section on Architectural modeling introduces component and deployment diagrams, and how to represent patterns and frameworks. What you will not find here is the detailed and obtuse discussion of the UML 1.1 Semantics document (www.omg.org). While that one was written for tool vendors, the discussion of what each element of UML means is very accessible in this UML User Guide. My major wish for this book is that the authors had included a "cheat sheet" of the changes introduced from version 1.1 for those readers who have been working with UML for a while. For example, the notation examples show that the '^' to denote a send-clause on a statechart action has been dropped, and the <<include>> stereotype has replaced the <<uses>> stereotype on use cases. Additionally, a generalization relationship has been added between use cases, and the semantics of the <<extend>> stereotype has changed subtly. Although I do object modeling for a living--and that means I have to read the obtuse UML documents anyway--I am grateful for the accessibility of this book so more people can learn to use this modeling language in their projects. I don't agree with everything in UML, but at least this book will get more people involved in the "spirited discussions." Thanks, Amigos!
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Summary: More powerful than a barbiturate
Review: The guys who essentially invented UML wrote this book-the infamous 'Three Amigos'. You would think that given that their book is about design they would have taken the time to make it visually appealing. Needless to say I should have judged this book by its cover. It sucked. To start with each chapter begins with an analogy on how building a house is like software design. When I started the book the analogy seemed appropriate, by chapter 31 I wanted to break someone's nose. Outside of the horrible cover design and redundant analogies the book is poorly organized. The book constantly refers to terms that it doesn't expound upon or for that matter define anywhere. For example, the authors refer over and over again to CRC Cards, but they're not defined anywhere in the book. What's worse, however, are the partially defined lists. For example the authors go to the trouble of informing you that there are four kinds of events in UML, but only bother to discuss three of them. Maddening! The chapters don't really follow a logical flow. The Three Amigos constantly skip backwards and forward throughout the book. In the side margins, almost as an afterthought they have included chapter references in blue type. If you follow the chapter references you're reading all over the place. Moreover, and perhaps most annoying of all is when they keep referring to concepts that they cover later in the book. I was paranoid that I day dreamed my way over the whole concept of the state machine until I discovered it nested away in chapter 21. Last but not least, the book is poorly written. Seriously, if you have to read this piece of crap you better brew a big pot of coffee. Technical literature can be a bit dry at times, but this is an exceptionally horrid piece of work. Death to the Three Amigos and a pox on Rational for hiring them! Don't buy this book.
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Summary: Not a tutorial
Review: This book is *not* a tutorial. People wanting to learn and use UML quickly should look elsewhere (such as "UML - a beginner's guide" by Jason T. Roff). However, the book is a serious piece of work on the UML subject coming from the most authorized voices on the topic. The book is rather for people with good experience in OOP and some experience in UML.
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Summary: the champion of poor writing
Review: To somebody who knows OOP, UML can be explained in under 30 minutes. It is simple, OOP is not. OOD starts in the head of an OOP programmer. Patterns help! I heavily recommend Sams "Teach Yourself UML in 24 hours"
ISBN 0672322382 Make up your own mind by looking at the books locally first. Whoever wrote the Schaum's Outline on UML also engages in doubletalk that is convoluted and based on something in the head of the author. Too bad Stephen Prata, Stephen Kochan, Ivor Horton or Bruce Eckel didn't write on patterns or UML! So many books by Booch, Fowler and Larman are heavily padded...full of repetitious sentences that tell me nothing! A professor at a local university said "I read Booch's 1992 book on OOA 3 times and asked myself what I learned...nothing" Those are my words exactly! When I was in Junior High, there was a teacher whose punishment for chewing gum was to write a 10 page essay on the benefits of chewing gum. I'll tell you I never chewed gum. Can you imagine how much you have to pad the writing to get 10 pages. Concerning a recent Booch book, I emailed Grady Booch to ask where the black diamond (in an early chapter) was defined. A month later, back came "chapter 16". Good thing I already knew about aggregation and composites. These people just can't write. Why are there so many fans of these books?
There is honor amongst thieves, elitists and groupies!
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Summary: Seriously Outdated
Review: I bought this book around 2 years ago. Today, I took it out and walk thru it with Rational Rose 2002 Enterprise Edition only to find that it was seriously outdated. For example, Implementation View has been changed to Component View and there is no isQuery property option for the class operation. These mismatches abound. Turn to other sources for up-to-date UML information.
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Summary: Are you ready to learn a forign language?
Review: Any software engineer should be ready to accept the learning curve of learning a new language when reading this book. This book will take the reader into semantics of the symbols in UML in light of the Object Oriented world. Object-Oriented terminology is a prerequisite for the reader; otherwise, it will be at best like reading Greek to the English reader. It is a textbook dealing with the grammar, vocabulary, structural modeling, and behavior modeling of UML. This book is excellent in its presentation of its subject matter. I cannot recommend this book enough. Be prepared before tackling this book.
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