The UML appeared in 1997 to eliminate the bedlam that had overtaken graphical modeling languages in the object-oriented world. Before the UML there were a host of such languages, differing in all sorts of annoying ways. Now the UML is pretty much the only game in town, which makes life much simpler for many people involved in OO software development This book was the first book on the UML, and I wrote it as a short overview of the language. My aim was to target that fraction of the UML that was the most useful and explain it briefly. My proudest thing about this book is that it's under half an inch thick - which was very unusual for OO modeling books at that time. I was also pleased when it won a productivity award from Software Development magazine.
The book has chapters for all the major diagram types in the UML, together with an intro and some general guidance on software process and how it fits in with the UML. I also put in a lot of tips on how to use the UML well and introduce a number of principles and techniques for good OO development. In September 2003, the 3rd edition of this book came out. This edition was mainly put together to bring the book into line with the latest UML 2 standard. I've further taken the opportunity to completely rewrite most of the book, clarifying explanation from my experiences and from review comments from others. I've added chapters for the new diagram types that were added in UML 2. However by slimming down the discussion on process, and removing the final code example chapter, I've actually managed to reduce the page count of the book.
(It looks thicker because AW printed it on thicker paper.).
Description Series: The Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series The long-awaited third edition of the best-selling UML book on the market; fully-updated and compliant with UML 2.0. This eagerly-anticipated third edition gets students thinking about efficient object-oriented software design using the latest version of the industry-standard for modeling software: UML 2.0. The author has retained the book's convenient, concise format that has made it an essential resource in courses introducing UML.
Addison Wesley - UML Distilled, 3rd Ed - 2003. The_Tiger__A_True_Story_of_Vengeance_and_S_-_Vaillant,_John.pdf The Tiger: A True Story. More detail on the UML with the bigger books, such as the User Guide [Booch, UML user] or the Reference Manual [Rumbaugh, UML Reference]. This book can also act as a handy reference to the most common parts of the UML.
The book describes all the major UML 2.0 diagram types, what they are intended to do, and the basic notation involved in creating and deciphering them. A true treasure for the software engineering community.