The Unified Modeling Language reference manual

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