CD-ROM Review

A CASE for Better Multimedia

Jason K. Krause

With more than 50 object-oriented code-design methods to choose from, program developers are, understandably, a divided lot. CASE tool provider Rational Software (Santa Clara, CA) recently created a stir by hiring the authors of three popular methods to collaborate on a new, unified method. The resulting CD-ROM, titled A Unified Object Modeling Approach, purports to detail the unification of these three approaches (James Rumbaugh's Object Modeling Technique [OMT], Grady Booch's Booch Method, and Ivar Jacobson's Use Cases Method). However, the final unified method specification had not been released at press time.

This two-CD set could be a valuable resource, but it falls short for several reasons -- the most obvious being that it's painfully dull and lacks interactivity. Th e narrator delivers a stream of lectures from insi de a QuickTime window. You can view several diagrams and tutorials, but these are confusing and incomplete.

It's hard to get a complete picture of the unified approach from this CD; it doesn't provide details about how to actually create code. Author Doug Rosenberg promises an updated version once Rational Software releases its unified approach, but that makes me wonder why this CD-ROM is necessary. This is an important topic for developers; it's a shame it was not presented better.

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Product Information

A Unified Object Modeling Approach
SIGS Books and Multimedia, 71 West 23rd St., New York, NY 10010
Phone:    (800) 871-7447
Internet: 
http://www.sigs.com

Price:    $995

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The Unification of the Trinity

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A Unified Object Modeling approach.