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

This is, in my opinion, an excellent book. It's short and sweet; it includes enough information to be useful without going off the deep end into territory of interest primarily to academics. This book emphasizes a refreshing, low-ceremony approach to software development. All the major aspects of UML are discussed: Use cases, class diagrams, sequence diagrams, collaboration diagrams, stereotypes, packages and collaborations, state diagrams... I found the concise explanation of the differences between association, aggregation and composition to be especially useful. At the end of the book the author also goes through a simple example using Java to show how to get from modelling to an actual piece of code. If you are a solid intermediate-level developer, this book is an invaluable stepping stone on the path toward mastery of object-oriented design techniques. It would probably be somewhat useful for a beginner, and would probably be rather too trivial for a sophisticated software designer.

Martin Fowler's UML Distilled surprised me as being a better read than The UML Users Guide by the three amigos. Martin Fowler manages to provide an overview of UML in a short book that actually has information lacking in bigger, more complete UML books. The definition of the three main perspectives of UML diagramming: Conceptual, Specification, and Implementation; as well as the better coverage of Activity Diagrams and advanced concepts and techniques normally not thought to be covered in an overview book, make this book the quickest way to get an overall feel and understanding of the UML.

If you start your study of the Unified Modeling Language(UML) by going to the definitive references by the three creators, it is quite likely that you will be intimidated. The three books, _The Unified Modeling Language User Guide_, _The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual_ and _The Unified Software Development Process_, all written by the designers and published by Addison-Wesley, are nearly 1500 pages of rather intense material. Like a veteran horseman, Martin Fowler charges to the rescue. In a "mere" 174 pages, he takes each of the essential main areas of the UML and presents a brief, yet surprisingly thorough description of what it is and how it is used. While targeted at the UML novice, it is necessary to have a fairly solid background in object-oriented programming in order to understand it. Since the UML is a modeling language based heavily on diagrams, they are used throughout the book and are very effective. This book will not teach you the UML, that task is left to weightier works. However, it will provide the proper foundation so that you can learn it, a task that is just as important. I listed the first edition as one of the best books of the year in my "On Books" column that appeared in the September, 1998 issue of _Journal of Object-Oriented Programming_ . There is nothing in the second edition that will change that opinion.

This book is a really great introduction to UML if you already know some object oriented design (OOD). If you have some experience in object oriented programming (C++, Java, Smalltalk) or have some experience with other OO design notations like OMT or Booch, then you will truly appreciate this book. The information is densely packed. The book provides an enjoyable quick tour of a reasonable complete UML notation.The style of writing is informal and easy to read. This is a book that can be read from cover to cover in one day without getting exhausted.This book is not an introductory book to object orientation (OO). If you haven't programmed in (object oriented) C++, Java or Smalltalk, then you should look for another book.The book is also a great "quick" reference to UML. The text is organized so that it is easy to find any of the described topics. But, the book is not an exhaustive reference manual. There are quite a few details missing.The price of the book is hight considering the low page count. On the other hand, it is worth much to have a book were you can find the information you need fast.