This Book s Scope

This Book's Scope

It should be obvious by now that I am a firm believer in becoming comfortable with the object-oriented thought process before jumping into a programming language or modeling language. This book is filled with examples of Java code and UML diagrams; however, you do not need to know Java or UML to read it. After all I have said about learning the concepts first, why is there so much Java code and so many UML diagrams? First, they are both great for illustrating OO concepts. Second, both are vital to the OO process and should be addressed at an introductory level. The key is not to focus on Java or UML, but to use them as aids in the understanding of the underlying concepts.

The Java examples in the book illustrate concepts such as loops and functions. However, understanding the code itself is not a prerequisite for understanding the concepts; it might be helpful to have a book at hand that covers Java syntax.

I cannot state too strongly that this book does not teach Java or UML, both of which can command volumes unto themselves . It is my hope that this book will whet your appetite for other OO topics, such as OO analysis, object-oriented design, and OO programming.