Amazon.com (ISBN 0321193687, Paperback)

The second edition of Martin Fowler's bestselling UML Distilled provides updates to the Unified Modeling Language (UML) without changing its basic formula for success. It is still arguably the best resource for quick, no-nonsense explanations of using UML.

The major strength of UML Distilled is its short, concise presentation of the essentials of UML and where it fits within today's software development process. The book describes all the major UML diagram types, what they're for, and the basic notation involved in creating and deciphering them. These diagrams include use cases; class and interaction diagrams; collaborations; and state, activity, and physical diagrams. The examples are always clear, and the explanations cut to the fundamental design logic.

For the second edition, the material has been reworked for use cases and activity diagrams, plus there are numerous small tweaks throughout, including the latest UML v. 1.3 standard. An appendix even traces the evolution of UML versions.

Working developers often don't have time to keep up with new innovations in software engineering. This new edition lets you get acquainted with some of the best thinking about efficient object-oriented software design using UML in a convenient format that will be essential to anyone who designs software professionally. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: UML basics, analysis and design, outline development (software development process), inception, elaboration, managing risks, construction, transition, use case diagrams, class diagrams, interaction diagrams, collaborations, state diagrams, activity diagrams, physical diagrams, patterns, and refactoring basics.

Amazon.com (ISBN 0201325632, Paperback)

Many working programmers have little time for keeping up with the latest advances from the world of software engineering. UML Distilled: Applying the Standard Object Modeling Language provides a quick, useful take on one of the field's most important recent developments: the emergence of the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

UML Distilled offers a useful perspective on what UML is and what it's good for. The author, an experienced software engineer, gives his own opinions of which diagrams are best to use. He is never doctrinaire and is always willing to put common sense design ahead of rigid adherence to models and documents. He runs through the basic notation used in UML for such design documents as use case, class, sequence, state, activity, and deployment diagrams. In addition, he includes concise examples of the details of working with objects, with an excellent step-by-step rendition of many of the details involved in UML. The author even includes some actual C++ code so you can see what all these design documents lead to.

You'll need some idea of what software engineering is in order to benefit from this book. However, if you have the appropriate background, you'll find this book invaluable in understanding this emerging new standard, which has the potential to bring solid software engineering to many developers who have never used disciplined software design techniques before.