Globe-trotting travelers have long resorted to handy, pocket-size dictionaries as an aid to communicating across the language barrier. Dan Pilone's UML 2.0 Pocket Reference is just such an aid for on-the-go developers who need to converse in the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Use this book to decipher the many UML diagrams you'll encounter on the path to delivering a modern software system.
Updated to cover the very latest in UML, you'll find coverage of the following UML 2.0 diagram types:
Class diagrams
Component diagrams*
Sequence diagrams*
Communication diagrams*
Timing diagrams*
Interaction Overview diagrams*
Package diagrams*
Deployment diagrams*
Use case diagrams
Composite structure diagrams*
Activity diagrams*
Statechart diagrams*
* New or expanded coverage in this edition
Also new in this edition is coverage of UML's Object Constraint Language (OCL). Using OCL, you can specify more narrowly the functionality described in a given diagram by recording limits that are the result of business rules and other factors.
The UML 2.0 Pocket Reference travels well to meetings and fits nicely into your laptop bag. It's near impossible to memorize all aspects of UML, and with this book along, you won't have to.
Dan Pilone is a Software Architect with SFA, Inc., cofounder and president of Zizworks, Inc. and a terrible rock climber. He has designed and implemented systems for Hughes, ARINC, UPS, and the Naval Research Laboratory. When not writing for O'Reilly, he teaches Software Design and Software Engineering at The Catholic University in Washington DC. Originally writing in C and C++, he has moved into the blissful world of managed code with Java and C#. He has had several articles published by Intelligent Enterprise and Java Developer's Journal on software process, consulting in the software industry, and 3D graphics in Java.
While the content is relatively good, the graphics leave a lot to be desired. It's extremely difficult to discern between regular lines and dashed lines at a glance. The lines need to be made thicker and easier to see, and additional annotation of the images would be useful, such as "x inherits y" or "p has a q". To be truly useful as a pocket guide, these should be fixed.
