The growing trend toward objects and component-based application development is leading developers to rely increasingly on visual modeling tools as the preferred method for combining reusable components with visual code. By exploring the basics of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) notation and the use of UML diagrams, this book offers a useful introduction and tutorial for Visual Basic developers and designers.

Features:

• Includes a full chapter on application development with Visual Basic 6.0, including coverage of COM, DCOM, OLE, ActiveX, and the Microsoft Repository
  
• Details the use of various visual modeling tools, including Microsoft's Visual Modeler 2.0 and Rational Software's Rose 98
  
• Offers a UML job aid illustrating the key notational symbols used in UML diagrams
  
• Compares the top three OO notations: UML, OMT, and Booch

About the Author
Paul Harmon is the editor of Component Development Strategies newsletter and the former editor of CASE Strategies newsletter. He is also Service Director of the Cutter Consortium's Distributed Computing Architecture service. He consults with major corporations on trends in the software industry and has authored many books, including Understanding UML: The Developer's Guide (Morgan Kaufmann), The Object Technology Casebook (John Wiley), and the international bestseller Expert Systems: Artificial Intelligence for Business (John Wiley).

Brian Sawyer is a software designer and writer who has developed several successful products, including VP Expert, the best-selling expert system-building tool, and ObjectCraft, a visual modeling tool for OO system development. Brian is the author of Creating Expert Systems for Business and Industry (John Wiley) and holds a BA in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.