[.ca] Fast Track UML 2.0 (ISBN 1590593200)

A well-written, concise UML 2.0 Reference Manual:
As described on the back cover of the book, the target audience of Fast Track UML 2.0 includes folks with previous visual modeling knowledge, perhaps including UML 1.x experience. In the book, the author does not attempt to describe the differences between UML 2.0 and UML 1.x, or to point out the new features. Instead, in a content-packed 161 pages, Kendall, with a "fresh look" at UML 2.0, describes well what a typical developer would want to know about modeling with this improved language. Normally, when a book's title tries to convey that it's going to teach me something "really fast" or "in just XX hours", I won't even pick it up. In this case, from reading a few of his previous books, I trusted that the author, Kendall Scott, had probably put together another good book worth reading, and he did. I'm a mildly experienced developer with a bit of object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD) understanding. In this book, I was looking for something that would quickly bring me up to date with UML 2.0, while still serving as a good reference manual into the future, as I sit down for some fancy picture drawing, also known as visual modeling. This is that book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a well-written, easy to follow and understand, concise UML 2.0 reference manual. If you're a career designer, note that this book does not describe in full detail, the complete syntax of UML 2.0. That said, if you're drawing fancy pictures using syntax not described in Fast Track UML 2.0, then perhaps that's a sign that you're models are too detailed. If you're brand new to the study of OOAD looking to develop these skills, this book alone probably isn't what you're after, though it would still serve well as a supplement to another material geared towards teaching OOAD. As a bonus, the book is priced well.