UML 2.0 in a Nutshell - O'Reilly's Latest Release

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A Guide to the Syntax, Semantics, and Usage of UML
O'Reilly Releases "UML 2.0 In a Nutshell"

Sebastopol, CA--There is no shortage of languages in the world of
technology: programming languages alone are described as high-level,
low-level, object-oriented, procedural, scripting, markup, and so on. The
Unified Modeling Language, or UML, is none of these, although it draws
much of its terminology from Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). On the
surface, it's a visual language for capturing software designs and
patterns. Dig a little deeper, however, and you'll find that UML can be
applied to quite a few different areas and can capture and communicate
everything from company organization to business processes to distributed
enterprise software.

Now the standard for modeling software application, UML is growing in
popularity in modeling other domains. Still, there are plenty of people
who are mystified by the difference in line endings on a class diagram,
puzzle over the folded corner of a rectangle, or are baffled by an
interactive diagram. For these newcomers to UML, and for experienced users
who want a thorough reference to the language, Dan Pilone and Neil Pitman
have written "UML 2.0 in a Nutshell" (O'Reilly, US $34.95), a
comprehensive guide to the syntax and semantics of the Unified Modeling
Language.

According to Pilone and Pitman, UML is intended to be a common way of
capturing and expressing relationships, behaviors, and high-level ideas in
a notation that's easy to learn and efficient to write. Software
developers and architects are the primary audience for "UML 2.0 in a
Nutshell" but the authors have written the book to accessible to as many
people as possible. "In particular, we thought about project managers,
business analysts, and requirements analysts," says Pilone. "We discuss
modeling business organizations, real-time systems, and databases. The
book is very readable and tries to very the examples across domains."

Pilone also observes, "As software becomes more and more complex, any tool
that helps raise the level of abstraction and increase communication is
critical. The industry as a whole is recognizing this along with concepts
like Model Driven Architecture (MDA) and Domain Specific Languages (DSLs).
UML is central to MDA and a source of inspiration for concepts in DSLs."

Since UML's first release, it has gone through several revisions and
refinements leading up to the current version. Each revision has addressed
problems and shortcomings identified in the previous version. UML 2.0 is
the largest UML specification in terms of page count, but it represents
the cleanest, most compact version of UML yet. In their coverage of it,
the authors include:

-Chapters covering each of the major diagram types, including class
 diagrams, use case diagrams, composite structures, interaction diagrams,
 and more
-Detailed explanations of the different symbols, notations, and line types
 used with each diagram
-The types of information each diagram can best communicate
-Explanations for using tagged values, stereotypes, and UML profiles to
 customize UML for a specific application domain
-A tutorial on the Object Constraint Language (OCL)
-Advice on effective diagramming practices to sharpen communication skills
 with the language

"UML 2.0 in a Nutshell" is intended primarily as a reference but was
written also to accommodate those learning the language.  "Readers will
develop a real appreciation for UML and know when to apply it and when to
leave things off," says Pilone. "We touch on nearly every aspect of UML
but really try to do it from a 'why you might care' perspective. We
explicitly say when we feel a part of UML is complicated or rarely used,
or more importantly, what parts really need to be understood inside and
out."

The book makes no assumptions about the reader's knowledge of UML. Each
chapter begins with a top-to-bottom discussion of the chapter's contents,
offering plenty of examples and discussions of how UML can be applied
beyond the obvious. "I want the book to be useful to people who know
what they need to convey, but don't know how to model it, as well as
people who have a diagram, but don't know what it means," says Pilone.  As
a result, "UML 2.0 in a Nutshell" is a complete guide to becoming fluent
in UML.

Additional Resources:

Chapter 7, "Use Case Diagrams," is available online at:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/umlnut2/chapter/index.html

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index,
author bios, and samples, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/umlnut2/index.html

For a cover graphic in JPEG format, go to:
ftp://ftp.ora.com/pub/graphics/book_covers/hi-res/0596007...

UML 2.0 in a Nutshell
Dan Pilone with Neil Pitman
ISBN: 0-596-00795-7, 216 pages, $34.95 US, $48.95 CA
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