ACCU Reviews: UML Distilled

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Book Review

UML Distilled by Martin Fowler
Recommended

ISBN: 0 201 32563 2 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pages: 179pp Price: £23-95

Categories: writing solid code object oriented modelling languages

Reviewed by Francis Glassborow in C Vu 9-6 (Sep 1997)

Writing substantial software requires that you start with analysis, proceed to design before you start coding and testing. This requires some mechanism for 'describing' your analysis and design. Over the last ten years there has been a continuous search for an adequate mechanism to support the needs of OO development. Quite a number of different mechanisms surfaced. Three of the main contenders were developed by Grady Booch, Ivar Jacobson and James Rambaugh. All three methodologies had good points but the biggest problem was that there were three of them.

This is not the place to go into the events that led up to a consolidation of all three into a synthesis that is now called the Unified Modelling Language. Just let me record that the battle is over and we can now settle down to a single solution that will make life easier for many of us.

We will soon have a series of books written to tackle various aspects of the use of UML, one each from the three main contributors. In the meantime this book gives us a simple overview.

If Object-Oriented Analysis and Design methodology is important to you (and anyone involved in writing anything beyond simple applications should consider a degree of formal analysis and design important) you will need to get to grips with UML. So all I can say is, start here. At least you can be certain that the skills you develop will be portable.

Other Authors with the same surname

Fowler
Analysis Patterns by Martin Fowler (Reviewed Jan 1998)
GUI Design Handbook by Susan Fowler (Reviewed May 1998)

Last Update - 13 May 2001.

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