About This Book


Welcome to UML 2.0 in a Nutshell. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has expanded quite a bit since its inception and can be applied to many different domains, however it still has its roots in software development. We have tried to make this book applicable to as broad an audience as possible, but it's helpful to have at least a cursory knowledge of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) because UML draws much of its terminology from that domain.

Before going any further we'd like to clarify how this book refers to the Unified Modeling Language. Grammatically speaking, "the UML" is correct. However, it sounds weird. This book uses the more colloquial "UML".

UML 2.0 in a Nutshell is a detailed reference for the UML 2.0 Superstructure, from a user's perspective. Whenever it would be helpful to clarify a UML concept with a concrete example, we will present Java code.

In general we assume that you are familiar with OOP and the type of constructs that go with it (classes, methods, inheritance, etc.). However, we make no assumptions about what you know about UML. Each chapter starts with a top-to-bottom discussion of the chapter's topic. This will be fast paced and thorough, meant for those who understand the basics and want to know the "nitty-gritty" of a piece of UML. Subsequent sections are kinder, gentler discussions of the topic. This includes examples that show how the topic may be applied to typical problems, help you further refine your models to eliminate ambiguity, capture details that might otherwise be lost, or add information to your model that aids in tool-based development.

A brief word of warning: UML has a strict terminology for just about every aspect of modeling. This is necessary to reduce ambiguity and confusion as much as possible. However, in everyday use some terms are used interchangeably with others that have completely different meanings in UML. A classic example of this is operation and method. These are frequently treated as being synonymous in a software development environment but have different meanings when used in the context of UML. We will make a point to use the correct UML term even if it may not be the most colloquial name.




UML 2.0 in a Nutshell
UML 2.0 in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell (OReilly))
ISBN: 0596007957
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 132

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