[.ca] The Unified Modeling Language User Guide (ISBN 0321267974)

From Amazon.com:
One of the most important recent developments in software engineering is the Unified Modeling Language (UML) standard for documenting software designs. Written by UML's inventors (the so-called Three Amigos of software engineering), The Unified Modeling Language User Guide provides a very appealing guide to all the fundamentals of using UML effectively. The book opens with a basic tour of the essential concepts and modeling diagrams used in UML, including class diagrams, use case diagrams, and basic modeling principles. The authors pay close attention to modeling classes (and documenting the relationships between classes) as well as use case diagrams (which show how software will be used by various actors in a system). This book mixes in a little software-engineering theory, too, but it makes use of clear examples and actual UML diagrams to illustrate key concepts. Later in the book, the authors discuss more difficult notational diagrams (such as state diagrams and activity diagrams, which can be used to model behavior in a system). Whatever your background in software engineering, you'll no doubt appreciate the author's clear explanations of basic (and advanced) modeling concepts, as well as the nuts-and-bolts details of today's powerful UML. With its combination of expert modeling advice and excellent detail on the specifics of UML, this book will be absolutely essential reading for anyone who wants to use UML for real-world software design. --Richard Dragan

More powerful than a barbiturate:
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.

the champion of poor writing:
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!

A User's Guide, no more...no less:
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.

The Reference Manual is a better buy:
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.

Not a tutorial:
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.