Fundamentals of Object-oriented Design in UML (Object Technology Series) [Paperback]

This book can be very valuable anyone who builds Object-Oriented computer programs, and anyone building computer programs either is or soon will be using Object-Oriented tools. Although it focuses on the Unified Modeling Language, a standard for most Computer-Aided Software Engineering tools, I found the real value of the book to be in the lucid explanations of principles of good software analysis and design, even more than in the nuts and bolts of UML. Dr. Page-Jones' style continues to combine well-researched information with down-to-earth pragmatism and a delightfully irreverent tone towards those who take this business (or themselves) way too seriously.

Who am I? I am a computational physicist turned systems analyst, with almost 20 years experience developing complex codes for scientific modeling and analysis, now working on real-time defense systems. I have been technical lead and mere contributor, subcontractor and lead contractor. My passion is for tight modular designs that facilitate high-reliablility code.

Part I, Introduction, gives excellent working definitions of the main concepts generally considered part of "Object Orientation" in a way that should be useful even to those beginning to use an OO language, and a historical perspective that helps explain why some issues are still messy.

Part II gets into the "nuts and bolts" of UML itself, of necessity illustrating many key concepts along the way. Even if you never use a CASE tool, the ability to discuss design issues using accepted "standard" diagrams will help you think through the key issues, communicate your ideas more clearly, and ultimately develop better designs. Better designs will not only avoid headaches in the implementation, but also guide the coding effort by making it clearer what the goals are.

Part III, the Principles of Object-Oriented Design, is worth the price of the book all by itself. Meilir's style helps you get through the big words by reminding you that that they are generalizations of common sense. For example, "connaissance" is basically old-fashioned "coupling": the more Module X's correct execution depends on details in Module Y, the more chances for mistakes. The OO quality of "encapsulation" helps you minimize it, whatever you call it. The old-fashioned concept of "coherence" becomes "cohesion": if everything a module does supports a well-understood single purpose, it is less likely there will be confusion or duplication. Do you hate a utility because you need to know so many stupid implementation details to use it properly? Don't lamely whine "I just don't like it!" when you can impress everyone by showing that it has an unjustifiably high "encumbrance."

The book is full of sound principles illustrated with real-world examples. If your gut has ever told you a proposed action was a bad idea, but you didn't know how to express your misgivings, the sound principles in this book will help you put your finger on what is wrong and why. Even if you don't care to use the impressive academic-sounding terms for them, the principles will help you become a more effective, persuasive member of your team. And even if you ARE the whole "team," they will keep you out of trouble.

The first two sections of the book are most accessible to those with little programming experience. These sections introduce object orientation and provide a review of the most useful Unified Modeling Language notations while illustrating their use in software design work. But throughout the book the author examines critical principles in such a way that the most experienced software designers will be challenged to reconsider assumptions and habits and to look more critically at their work. The third section of the book is not completely accessible to readers without substantial development experience but even so has enough to offer that it should not be skipped by the newcomer to coding.

In my opinion this book is more about design than UML. If you want an introduction to UML it might make more sense to read Sams Teach Yourself UML in 24 Hours. The introduction to UML in Page-Jones' book is good enough to be your first look at UML but it is not comprehensive and it is oriented to illustrating design principles. This is an excellent book to start with and I would recommend reading it before anything else on UML. And I cannot imagine a better book for introducing object-oriented design. The author has a long track record in structured design and he frequently relates OO to SD concepts. The book is language independent but weighted toward C++. I only speak Java and had a little trouble with the concept of parameterized classes because they don't exist in my frame of reference but this was a very minor problem.