The Object Primer: Agile Model-Driven Development with UML 2.0

I am an experienced analyst looking for an antidote to the RUPies use-case-jaundiced view of requirements. This book provided the perfect foil to the sentiment that use cases are all that is in the requirements universe. It is not meant to be an exhaustive treatise of UML models, rather, it offers a different and, to me, refreshing view of what requirements for system building are supposed to be: agile, responsive and as varied as the projects that they are used on. Additionally, the writing is light enough to be enjoyed and (what a novel idea) actually read. I have read Mr. Jacobson's books as well as Mr. Rumbaugh's. Albeit their authority status, their writing styles leave you wondering who they were writing for. It certainly wasn't me. If you are looking for an alternative to the use-cases-as-panacea view of the world, this book will present a good fundamental look at how to get requirements written in a different way. And along the way, you will have a good time reading the book.

This book should really be called "Agile Models Distilled" or perhaps "Agile Model Driven Development". It does for modeling what UML Distilled does for UML: it provides a concise overview of a wide range of modeling techniques. One thing that is a real eye opener in this book is how many simple techniques exist work involving your users in the modeling process, as well as developers who may not want to learn the complex UML tools which management foists on them. A huge benefit of the book is that it actually covers the entire software development lifecycle. It describes testing techniques that you can use throughout your project and shows how TDD fits together with modeling. The simple and straightforward approach to modeling that's covered in this book fits incredibly well with the TDD approach favored by many agile developers; it's a great way to increase your productivity as a developer. The book works through a case study, showing how to model and then code portions of a business application, so you get a pretty good idea how to actually do this stuff in practice. This book shows how to be effective at modeling on agile projects, something few other books show how to do. It shows that you need to go beyond the UML although makes it clear that the UML is still an important part of your modeling effort. The book shows how it all fits together, but doesn't go into the excruciating details of how to apply each modeling technique: if it did that it would be several thousand pages long. If you want to gain an understanding of the types of modeling skills you need to learn to be effective, this book is it.

OO came first and then came UML to model it! This book is all about the principles of object-oriented requirements, analysis, and design first and secondly about the UML tools for modeling these steps in project development. That's as it should be since OO is the thing most to be admired, and UML is (just) a popular and very useful language for modeling OO development. Too many UML books are so intent on UML that the fundamentals of OO are ignored. The first edition of this book was published in 1995 just before UML was born. Its author, Scott Ambler, is a prolific and renowned writer and developer.The book has many detailed UML diagrams and is clearly written in a pleasant, professional style. The book is not about implementation. Look elsewhere for sample code, including some of Ambler's fine other publications.Don't be lislead by the word "Primer" in the title. It's for the serious reader and would make a good text, but for a junior or senior level CS course. If you are a professional and could have just two references in your library for your first OO project, this 523-page book together with a good programming reference (Java, C++, C#, or VB.NET) would be a good choice.

This has to be the first book that has gotten object-oriented development right. Ambler really does tell it like it is in an easy to read manner. This is a great book for novices because it provides an introduction to the actual techiques you need to know about to develop software and is good for people like me who have been working in Java for a few years now because it fills in the missing blanks. Every Java and C++ programmer needs to read this book.The thing that I like most about the book is that he colors outside of the UML lines, I wish more authors had the nerve to do that. This book is what the UML User Guide by the Three Amigos should have been. This book, in combination with UML Distilled, is the only thing that you need to know how to model object-oriented business applications.

I probably purchased somewhere upwards of twenty books on the topics of the UML and object-oriented development before buying The Object Primer, 2nd Edition. Yeah, it probably would have been nice to have read this one first, but on the other hand, it may have been just the right book at the right time in terms of my learning process. As a result of my previous efforts, I was getting overwhelmed and confused by the sheer volume of concepts, notations, diagrams, development processes, and tools associated with becoming proficient with UML modeling and object-oriented development. While I had learned lots of important terminology and techniques from the previous books, I found The Object Primer to be enormously practical and useful in terms of putting it all together and breaking through to a working level of proficiency. Among the aspects of the book that I appreciated are it's easy-to-read style, effective use of diagrams and visual examples, and the "techniques" sections with clear directives about what to do, and what not to do, in specific areas. I was able to use the technique lists in somewhat of a cookbook style as I applied what I was learning to some of my own work.So far, in my growing library of OO development books, this one provides the "biggest bang for the buck".