How This Book Should Be Used

Surely a book like this is meant to be read, and to be interesting, from the start to the end, so we would like to encourage you to read it as a whole. However, we realize that not everyone has either the time or the technical background to read everything. Therefore, we would like to suggest three major tracks:

• Managers track : Managers who do not want to go into all details of the technology behind MDA should read Chapter 1 through Chapter 3, Chapter 11, and Chapter 12. Optionally, they might want to read Chapter 4.

• Developers track : People who are more interested in the application of MDA for developing software will want to read Chapter 1 through Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 12.

• Specialists track : To get a thorough understanding of the technical background of MDA, you should read the entire book.

The details of the examples in Chapter 5, Chapter 6, and Chapter 10 can be skimmed through. This will not hinder understanding of the remainder of the book. However, it is important to realize that in real-life applications of MDA all of the details of these example chapters do exist, although they might sometimes be encapsulated into a black box.