Review By: Brian Hambling
09/11/2002

This book provides a well-written text balanced with numerous helpful diagrams. Examples are widely used and are always clear and simple, but with enough substance to illuminate the topic. The style is simple and straightforward, and always interesting. The book is accessible to intelligent and attentive readers, but it will not disappoint those with a more technical background.

Part 1 of the book provides a very simple and clear introduction to what it means to be object oriented, together with a brief but useful history of object-oriented techniques. As the title suggests, the book limits itself to fundamentals, but it handles the fundamentals well. Part 2 covers the Unified Modeling Language in reasonable detail and in a clear style. It begins with a chapter on basic expression of classes, attributes, and operations; then offers separate chapters for each of the main models: architecture and interface diagrams, class diagrams, object-interaction diagrams, and state diagrams. Parts 1 and 2 are aimed at those new to both UML and object orientation and they are very accessible to general readers.

In part 3 the author describes the principles of object-oriented design, which moves to a more advanced level. He uses UML to express the key ideas as he takes us beyond the basics and into the more interesting areas of object-oriented design. This section takes the reader through type conformance, inheritance, polymorphism, and a chapter on class cohesion. He closes with a chapter on “Designing a Software Component.”

Most important, this book is consistently about fundamentals. The author holds to that guiding principle and does not get drawn into unnecessary detail or esoteric issues. As a result, this book is a reliable guide to what is important and a good introduction to the key aspects of design with UML. The book is appropriate for anyone’s personal collection as well as a standard university text.