Systems Analysis and Design, UML Version 2.0: An Object-Oriented Approach

The UML writing style of this book is very easy to follow, and a great way to gradually introduce the whole concept of object-oriented analysis and design methodologies to the readers, especially the beginners. The authors did a great job illustrating the entire system development life cycle with a coherent and realistic example using the latest UML notations, practical methodologies, and various analytical artifacts. The only criticism I have is that sometimes the description of a particular topic spans over multiple pages without sub-leveling or sub-topics or highlights, making it very difficult for user to go back and perhaps mine certain important concepts embedded in the discussion. Perhaps more generalization relationship and diagrams can be helpful. Overall, it is a very good source of reference for object-oriented design in layman's term. I will strongly recommend it to my colleagues.

I have looked at over twenty books on UML and its updates over the past few years, and this book is a gem. It is concise, and provides a clear picture of the entire systems design process It shows how UML 2.0 can be used to support system requirements capture, specification, analysis, and design. It clearly says what is important and what is not, and what is not covered in the book. Very pleasing to look at visually, with nice pictures and colors, and very good use of footnotes. I would recommend this highly to all university faculty considering creating or teaching a course in system design using UML. Excellent job by the authors in exceeding the goals and expectations set by this book. The above views are my personal views, and don't reflect those of any other institution. I am using parts of it at a graduate course I teach at Georgia Tech.

The book offers a very pragmatic approach to the subject of system analysis and design. It also has the advantage of not being dispersive, so the reader does never loose the focus. Repetition occurs only occasionally, for concepts that may be more hostile to digest. The only thing that I reckon is missing is a support with some templates that is possible to use (e.g. a CD-ROM with examples of analysis and design). Overall, I would say is a very good deal! Definitely worth having it!

Having taught system analysis and design in the past, and having taken courses on it, this is one of the better books out there. The difficulty faced by the authors is that there is no "one true" methodology for analyzing and designing systems. This book does a good job of overviewing the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), and brings real-world examples to the table. An on-going example does a good job of illustrating how all of the diagrams work in a real-world scenario. This is one of the few books to give a strong overview of the entire process, and does not get mired in anecdotal monologues. Odds are, you will need to read more than one book to understand this subject, and hands on will be needed to be able to implement the techniques used. I have extensive programming experience, but many of my classmates had none at all, and yet we all found the book informative and interesting.

Alan Dennis and Barbara Wixom make a difficult subject come alive with easy to understand language and real life case studies