UML Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Standard Object Modeling Language, Third Edition

Uml

Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML : A Practical Approach (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series) (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series)

Format: Paperback
Author: Doug Rosenberg
ReleaseDate: 15 March, 1999
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
Rating:

Ditto this NOT being Unified Process
Here is my interpretation of the purpose of this book:

"I think the world should have used my ICONIX process! This UML stuff is inferior. I had to read this book for a class I took. I hate UML, but I will use it to sell my book. "

Fortunately, the class also used Martin Fowler's great UML Distilled book. If you want to know about UML, get that one instead!.

Not Unified Process
This book covers the author's Iconix process. If you are looking for a book on the Unified Process (as I was), then this book is not for you. Considering the book's title I would have expected it to examine use cases and UML more than it does.

I was really intereted in the Unified Process. But, the Iconix methodology is a good one, and were it to be more prevalent in the industry I would take a harder look at it.

Heresy! This is ICONIX, a compact method borrowing UML
This book really sets forth the ICONIX methodology, the author's streamlined approach to modeling using mostly, but not only, UML. This is the eighth software engineering title that uses the UML (Unified Modeling Language) that I have read in the last five months as I work to establish a software engineering guide and reference framework for a small team at my technology company.

Because of the author's quarrelsome nature and unusual departures from common progressions in the model views, I found this book less useful than the others. The author repeatedly explains (with a careful record of the dates) how much of his integration of the competing OO modeling methods preceded the work of the UML founders (Booch, Jacobson, and Rumbaugh) and frequently raises the small quarrels in the UML world for no purpose except to give a quick and unsupported opinion. Not surprisingly, ten of the twenty-five citations in the bibliography are the author's prior papers.

Although the title claims the method is "use case driven," techniques and guidelines for use cases are poorly done; and the author suggests that the requirements stage should begin with domain modeling and "robustness diagrams" before text for use cases is written. The author also places heavy emphasis on screen mockups during the requirements stage.

The contents would make a good lecture or two; but it is an annoying departure from the efforts of many to extend and enrich UML. Since the book is only 165 pages, it won't hurt for long, and there are thoughts here and there worth reading. Perhaps it's tongue-in-cheek, a test to see if we can spot obvious logical problems with the method.