Customer Reviews
Good book , good examples... - By: Mr. S. P. Bracken, 24 Aug 2003 
I bought this book as I was asked to use the UML & Javain a project.
It provides a structured approach for undertaking the analysis of pretty much any project using the UML & the design of Enterprise Java projects. The best feature is the accompanying CD with an application published via Rational Rose.
Allin all, a good book with a useful reference application.
Excellent Book for OO Analysis - By: Thomas Paul, 23 Jun 2003 This book takes you through the development of an application from proposal to implementation. In alternating chapters the authors explain the use of UML for a particular stepin the development lifecycle & then demonstrate what they just explained to develop a sample timecard system. The best part of the book, which is not significantly different than the first edition, is the first halfin which the authors discuss requirements gathering & object oriented analysis. The book is worth the price for this first part alone.
The second half of the book has been expanded to discuss new J2EE technologies. The chapters on evaluating technologies are good as far as discussing how to evaluate technologies but the actual analysis is weak as they ignore candidate technologies such as Strutsin favor of their own homegrown HTML production framework. They also fail to explain why EJBs are a better choice for their sample application than simply using Servlets/JSPs/JDBC. The final section on design gets bogged down with too many pages of code listings & not enough explanations for the code.
Arrington & Rayhan have done a very good job explaining UML although some familiarity with UML notation (or at least a handy manual) would be helpful. If you already own the first edition then you can ignore this edition. If you don't own it then you will definitely want to read this book. This is a must have book for any Java architect/developer doing OOAD.
Excellent overview of project lifecycle - By: Thomas Paul, 27 Nov 2002 
Trying to develop a Java application without first developing a model can lead to a poorly designed application that fails to fulfill the needs of users, lacks reusability, & is difficult to maintain. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) was developed as an open standard notation to assist developersin modeling OO applications. As enterprise developers we are finding that we are expected to be able to design applications using UML, explain UML diagrams to our users, or be able to develop applications from UML diagrams. UML can be difficult & confusing to use & many of the books available fail to clearly explain the proper use of this development tool. "Enterprise Java with UML", by CT Arrington is an excellent introduction into the complexities of UML. Arrington takes us through the entire lifecycle of a sample EJB application (a timecard system) from requirements gathering to implementation. In alternating chapters he explains the use of UML (use cases, sequence diagrams, class diagrams, etc.) for that stepin the development cycle & then uses what he just explained to develop the timecard system. Along the way we make technology decisions, develop our design, & ultimately convert our design into actual code. By the time we are done UML has become a new toolin our toolbox. Arrington has done a very good job explaining UML although some familiarity with UML notation (or at least a handy manual) would be helpful. This is a must have book for any Java developer wishing to learn UML.
Excellent and practical guide - By: , 09 Oct 2001 CT Arrington has done a fine job of walking the reader though the process of realising a J2EE system from actor discovery, though writing simple use cases, discovery of analysis classes & eventually on to design & realisation.
Simple yet useful rules are suggested for identification of boundary classes, control classes & domain classes. Arrington's style is both honest & highly readable: I found his advice pragmatic & full of simple wisdom.
The author makes an apology for glossing over some of the finer points of OOD &in truth the book is a little light on the tail end of the process: component diagrams & deployment diagrams were ignored. I suppose I should deduct a star for that but the rest of the book was so impressive I think that this would be an inaccurate reflection of the book's value & overall quality.
I must mention that Arrington's explanation of the difference between dependency, aggregation, composition & association is one of the nicest & clearest that I've seen. The treatment of criteria for technology selection was also quite excellent.
This was a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading & at just 400 easy-to-read pages represented productive reading time. The case study provided was simple but a sound basis to teach the application of UMLin this context (J2EE), the raison d'etre for this text.
I'm sure you'll find muchin here that's useful. I was very impressed.
Very useful introduction to EJB from requirements to code - By: , 05 Oct 2001 With some knowledge of both UML & Java before I read this book, I was hoping that it would give me an understanding of how Java & UML can be used to create enterprise-level applications. By & large, the book met this aim.
The book gives a strong overview of moving from use case modeling to analysis & designin clear & concise language, before introducing the specifics of enterprise Java. There is good discussion of EJB, servlets, swing, RMI & JDBC. Only significant ommission appears to be JSPs, which are neglectedin favour of servlets.
I would recommend this book to anyone with a good foundationin Java & UML (not beginners) who are looking for an overview of how to use them together at the enterprise level & to take advantage of the benefits offered by EJB & J2EE.
Final thought: when oh when will a programming book give an example that is anything other than an ATM or a timesheet recording application?!
