Goals

The goals for the second edition remain goals for this edition as well. This book is still meant to be an easy-to-read introduction to the UML and how to apply its notation and semantics to the development of real-time and embedded systems. At the time of this writing, it is one of a few books on the UML and real-time systems. I am also the author of two others: Doing Hard Time: Developing Real-Time Systems using UML, Objects, Frameworks, and Patterns (Addison-Wesley, 1999) and Real-Time Design Patterns: Robust Scalable Architecture for Real-Time Systems (Addison-Wesley, 2002). Doing Hard Time is a more in-depth look at the fundamentals and vagaries of real-time systems, with emphasis on analysis of object schedulability, the use of behavioral patterns in the construction of statechart models, and how to use real-time frameworks effectively. Doing Hard Time is a deeper exploration of real-time systems that happens to use the UML to express these concepts. My other book, Real-Time Design Patterns: Robust Scalable Architecture for Real-Time Systems is a book about architecture and the application of design patterns to the development of architecture using the Five Views of architecture defined in the ROPES process: Subsystem and Component View, Concurrency and Resource View, Distribution View, Safety and Reliability View, and the Deployment View. This book is more specialized than Doing Hard Time, focusing almost exclusively on software and systems architectures. In contrast, Real-Time UML is primarily an introduction to the UML and its use in capturing the requirements, structure, and behavior of real-time systems.

In addition to these original goals for the first and second editions, the third edition adds two more: (1) bring the book in conformance with the recent changes in the UML standard (especially the soon-to-be-released UML 2.0 and the UML Profile for Schedulability, Performance, and Time), and (2) enhance the book's effectiveness based on feedback from the first two editions.

Interested readers visit the I-Logix Web site, www.ilogix.com. There you will find a number of papers on related topics, written by myself and others, as well as the UML specifications, tool descriptions, and links to relevant sites. I also moderate a Yahoo group (www.groups.yahoo.com/RTUML) for discussions and papers relevant to the UML and its application to real-time and embedded systems.

Bruce Powel Douglass, Ph.D.
Summer 2003