Reviews for The Unified Modeling Language User Guide (Object Technology Series)

1. An excellent book

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, January 12th, 2003

   I purchased this book on the strength of a reference by a reviewer of another book. I cannot praise this book highly enough. I am fairly new to UML and needed a book for my MSc studies. This book is clear, well laid out, and thorough. There are frequent, discrete references in the margin to sections where more detailed information on a subject can be found. I am now using it as a reference for a real-world application and it is proving invaluable. It is a joy to pick up and read. I cannot fault it.

2. A good introduction into the use of patterns in UML modellin

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, September 12nd, 2001

   Applying UML and patterns is more of a patterns book than a UML tutorial, and it provides a good introduction to o-o analysis and design that has a slightly different slant than other books on the subject. Overall it champions the use of patterns, a technique that leads to the standardisation of modelling using the UML and allows more novice developers to stand on the shoulders of the more experienced, and incorporate good practice into their own designs.

3. Lots of interesting stuff - except the answers I want

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, March 12rd, 2001

   I was initially pleased to discover this book in my local shop, but as time has passed I have realised that I am merely gleaning tidbits of information when I should be storming to new levels of understanding and confidence with the UML. The problem seems to be a lack of examples that deal with anything other than simple canonical designs. When I tried to reverse engineer an old project I just could not find the answers I needed.

   Example 1: In a class diagram how does one represent an object that is created by a factory object and passed to another object which is then it's owner - I opted for composition with the made-up stereotype <> but gained no confidence anywhere that this was the right thing to do.

   Example 2: <> sounds like a very useful thing if your problem involves polymorphism - a common scenario in OO-design. But have I misunderstood what it's for? My class contains a pointer to a base class which at runtime could be an object of any derivative. Is that a dependency on a powertype?

   I resent being in the position of understanding OO-design quite well but being held back by a tool which should be my servant and not my master. This book should be changing that relationship more than it is. More examples please!

4. Excellent introduction to UML

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, January 12th, 2000

   If considering the book as an introduction to the basics of UML it is excellent. By this, it will not discuss more complicated questions. The chapters and graphics are strict and very well organized, making it easy and nearly enjoyable to read.

5. A good but often misunderstood book

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, December 12th, 1999

   This book is a good tutorial to the UML. It is often misunderstood, though, by people who thinks that is supposed to be a tutorial in Object Oriented programming and/or terminology. For this purpose one should read som OO book instead. Others think that this book is supposed to be a total reference to the UML notation. It is not. The published standard serves this purpose. The User's Guide is only supposed to introduce the notation of UML and its sematics for readers that already know OO programming. And this, I think, it does well.