[Home Page] - [Reviews Main]

UML Toolkit by Hans-Erik Eriksson & Magnus Penker Highly Recommended

ISBN: 0 471 19161 2       Publisher: Wiley       Pages: 396pp+CD       Price: £39-95

Categories:   object oriented     modelling languages

Reviewed by Mark Kuschnir in C Vu 11-3 (Mar 1999)

At first I was slightly uncertain what the 'Toolkit' in the title was for. It became clearer as I read the book. There are 9 diagrams in UML - these are the toolkit. Thankfully you don't actually have to use all 9 diagrams when describing a particular system! You only need to use the appropriate diagrams. The diagrams are grouped into different 'views' of the system. The view is a particular way of looking at the system.

The book starts off with a fast paced overview of UML. Then each of the following chapters develops a diagram/view that was briefly introduced in the overview. Finally there is an extended example. A visual glossary provides a useful overview of the diagrams. I thought that it had the right mix of text, diagrams and example code (in Java!).

The CDROM is interesting in that it is a working demo of Rational Rose 4.0 (it is limited by the number of classes it handles). This allows one to try out ideas for real, which I think is quite a pleasant feature.

Occasionally, I thought the book didn't provide an adequate explanation of a point. It just seemed to miss out on making the point fully clear. Hopefully, a second read will bring it all together!

The book makes a useful follow on to Richard Blundell's UML series in Overload. I actually enjoyed reading this book! It deserves to be read by those investigating or interested in UML. Highly recommended.