UML Bible

Wouldn't want to document a design without this book.

UML Bible is as solid a reference as I've come across. It is extremely comphrehensive and contains many many examples. The problem with this book is the problem with every other UML book I've purchased: It's long on explaining the UML specification and short on providing examples of good architectural design practice. The book does include a case study of sorts but stops short of providing a complete set of architectural drawings depicting an application system. That is, of course, what most of us who are buying these books want. We want to design computer systems with UML.

Excellent for learners and as a reference. I found the book was very well structured: it was easy for me to find what I needed to know quickly. It was also not too "heavy" to read cover to cover in order to get familiar with all the aspects of UML.

The book is laid out very well, starting with a review of UML and provides thorough and detailed descriptions of all the diagrams and notations. I'm using this nearly exclusively to help me model projects, and is on my desk instead of on my bookshelf.The author clearly understands UML and takes the reader effectively through the distinctions between the many notations.Pluses- Excellent description on the differences between UML 1.4 and 2.0, including completely different chapters where necessary- Detailed descriptions of all the notations including less often used pieces- Explicit definitions of key terms that limit confusion created from the "common understanding" of the definitions- Excellent example that runs through the entire book, with appropriate departures to clarify points.- Valuable introduction to the Object Constraint Language (OCL) and action semantics- Most information that belongs in the appendix / late chapters is there (see below)A few dings -First, I would have to agree with Mr. Duff's comments on the target audience - I'm fairly experienced with Object Oriented programming and with design work, but when I tried to read this, I started getting confused and very sleepy. I started out with UML for Dummies and this made life much easier.Second, the author included an early chapter and 50 pages throughout the book to the architecture and formal definition of UML. Frankly, I'm not sure who is really interested in the definition of the UML 1.4 four layer architecture model and the UML 2.0 superstructure library, but to me the bigger sin is to put it in chapter 2 instead of an appendix / later chapter. I didn't gain anything except a headache by reading about it earlier in the book.Third, although he is very clear about it through the book, the version that I have came out before the final specification. This may cause some things to be different from his version to the final specification. However, he details those specifically, gives the likely outcomes, and the detailed areas are in the hinterlands of UML.

....there is a substantial difference between UML 1.4 and UML 2.0 and the UML Bible is an excellent book to help software modelers discover what's new and different in the revised standard. I especially like the way Pender uses gray shading in the diagrams to help you quickly identify differences between the two versions of UML. This thoroughness is carried over into the listings in the Glossary, Index and Appendices, which feature separate UML 1.4 and UML 2.0 Notation Guides to help users understand unique aspects of both notations.The section on bringing rigor to the modeling process with object constraint language (OCL) and Action Semantics is handled equally well, with a convincing explanation of the role of action semantics in providing a standard for the exchange of action specifications between UML tools, as well as future "executable UML" applications.Whether you use the UML for informal 'sketching' of software ideas or a more exhaustive 'blueprint' approach to code, Pender's clear and accessible 940-page book provides a comprehensive and cost-effective way to get up to speed on all aspects of UML 2.0.

This book is the clearest, most accurate, and complete book onUML 2 that I'm aware of. Pender obviously read thespecifications carefully and took the time to explain them. Itprovides many examples, and metamodels for tool developers. Itshows the differences between UML 1.x and UML 2, facilitating thetransition for existing users. It also has insights into issuessuch as the relation between state machines and interactions, andthe role of activities in object-orientation. The advancedreader can also find information about OCL, XMI, MDA, and UMLprofiles defined by OMG. Colleagues have thanked me forrecommending it, one saying "that book is saving my %^&*$".Congratulations to the author on very fine work.Conrad BockWorkgroup Lead for UML 2 Activities and ActionsU.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology"The opinions expressed above do not reflect consensus of NIST,and have not been reviewed by any Government authority."Search on "JOT UML 2" for more information.

I need to read UML diagrams provided by another company, initially I thought there are bunch of free on-line resources, but it turns out that's not a effective way to sort things out quickly, this book is a overkill for a casual user like me, but it saved me tons of time to search the meaning of a particular symbal etc.

Too big and elaborate but good book if you want to master all notations.