The following is a selected list of selected UML related publications, including books, papers, articles, and blogs. Authors or publishers who are interested in having their tools evaluated for inclusion should contact us...

• Books
• Papers & Articles
• Blogs

Books

1. Applying UML and Patterns (3rd ed.) by C. Larman
   • Editors' Rating:
   • PRO: A solid introduction to UML which also includes a sound introduction to object analysis and design and pattern-based development. Includes a moderate complexity case study. Recently updated to support UML 2.0.
   • CON: Contains significant method bias. Does not address scalability issues, and does not show how to effectively specify components and interfaces.
2. UML Bible by T. Pender
   • Editors' Rating:
   • PRO: A practical and comprehensive introduction to UML which includes pragmatic examples and summaries of changes between UML 1.x and UML 2.0.
   • CON: Book is too long, and would benefit from reducing OMG specification trivia lacking pragmatic value.
3. UML 2 for Dummies by M. J. Chonoles & J. A. Schardt
   • Editors' Rating:
   • PRO: A balanced introduction to UML that includes most of the major features added to UML 2.0. Includes many pragmatic tips.
   • CON: The "Dummies" writing style may cause some professionals to not give this book the attention it merits. In addition, it neglects Composite Structure diagrams, which is one of the major improvements to UML 2.0.
4. UML Distilled (3rd ed.) by M. Fowler
   • Editors' Rating:
   • PRO: A quick primer for UML that is regularly updated to keep pace with the specification revisions. Recently updated to address UML 2 revisions.
   • CON: Does not explain how the language scales for large systems.
5. The UML Reference Manual (3rd ed.) by J. Rumbaugh, et al.
   • Editors' Rating:
   • PRO: A comprehensive reference manual that is significantly more readable than the UML 2.0 specification. Recently updated to address UML 2 revisions.
   • CON: You need to augment this reference manual with some sort of user guide that explains how to use the various modeling constructs defined in the reference. Note that The UML User Guide by the same authors, has not been updated to UML 2.0.
6. Real-Time UML (3rd ed.) by B. P. Douglass
   • Editors' Rating:
   • PRO: The best introduction to the use of UML for real-time/embedded systems. Written in an engaging style, and has been updated to cover the UML 2 specification.
   • CON: Less effective for a general audience, since it focuses on real-time/embedded systems.

   

Papers & Articles

The following is selected list of papers and articles about UML 1.x and UML 2.0. The papers and articles are chronologically ordered, so the papers and articles towards the top will tend to emphasize UML 2.0.

• “Modeling DoDAF Compliant Architectures with UML 2,”
  by Cris Kobryn and Chris Sibbald, Telelogic white paper, May 2004.
• "Death by UML Fever,"
  by Alex E. Bell, ACM Queue vol. 2, no. 1 - March 2004.
• “UML 3.0 and the Future of Modeling,”
  by Cris Kobryn, Software and Systems Modeling, vol. 3, no. 1, 2004.
  • Copyright © 2004 Springer-Verlag. The original publication is available at springerlink.com.
• “Architecting Systems with UML 2.0,”
  by Morgan Björkander and Cris Kobryn, IEEE Software, July/August 2003.
  • Copyright © 2003 IEEE. Reprinted from IEEE Software, July/August 2003. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of UML Forum's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by sending a blank email message to pubs-permissions@ieee.org.
• “Driving Architectures with UML 2.0,”
  by Cris Kobryn and Eric Samuelsson, Telelogic white paper, August 2003.
• "UML 2 Activity and Action Models,"
  by Conrad Bock, Journal of Object Technology, Vol. 2, No. 4, July-August 2003.
• "UML - Unified or Universal Modeling Language?"
  by Dave Thomas, Journal of Object Technology, Vol. 2, No. 1, January-February 2003.
• "Why Significant UML Change Is Unlikely,"
  by Dov Dori,  Communications of the ACM, vol. 45, no. 11, November 2002.
• "Will UML 2.0 Be Agile or Awkward?,"
  by Cris Kobryn, Communications of the ACM, vol. 45, no. 1, January 2002.
• “Customizing UML for Fun and Profit,”
  by Martin Fowler and Cris Kobryn, Software Development, July 2002.
• "Modeling Components and Frameworks with UML,"
  by Cris Kobryn, Communications of the ACM, vol. 43, no. 10, October 2000.
• "UML 2001: A Standardization Odyssey,"
  by Cris Kobryn, Communications of the ACM, vol. 42, no. 10, October 1999.
• "UML in Action,"
  by Grady Booch, Communications of the ACM, vol. 42, no. 10, October 1999.

Blogs

• Grady Booch
  • Blog: Software architecture, software engineering, and Renaissance Jazz
  • Selected posting: Microsoft and Domain Specific Languages
• Martin Fowler
  • Blog: UML Bliki
  • Selected posting: UMLSketchingTools
• Jim Steel
  • Blog: The Bootstrap
  • Selected posting: UML2 Gripes
• Stefan Tilkov
  • Blog: Random Stuff
  • Selected posting: UML 2.0